Entrevista Andrea Pistillo- Projecte AmbientaMENT (3)

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Andrea Pistillo, member of the AmbientaMENT project: "We want to study how some environmental exposures can affect mental health in the neighborhoods of Barcelona"

Barcelona is a city that also experiences the effects of climate change. The rise in temperature or air pollution, among other factors, have effects on citizens that are gradually becoming more and more noticeable. But until now there has been no study that analyzes these effects in detail and maps the problem in the regional city.

Andrea Pistillo, statistician and pre-doctoral student, is part of the AmbientaMENT group, a project that aims to explore the effect of the environment on mental health in neighborhoods. It is a project of IDIAP Jordi Gol, ISGlobal, BCNUEJ (ICTA-UAB).

adrea pistillo biennal

• What is your job at IDIAP Jordi Gol?
I am a statistician and predoctoral student in the Real World Epidemiology group led by Talita Duarte Salles. Last October I started my PhD in environmental epidemiology, jointly with ISGlobal. During my PhD I will study how climate change is affecting health.

• How did the idea of this project come about?
The project is part of my doctoral thesis and when we saw the call from the Barcelona City Council we decided to try it. The call was about quality of life and we decided to emphasize mental health, as it is a topic that has not yet been studied in depth, and even less considering socio-demographic and geographic inequalities.

• What is the objective of this project?
The main objective is to study how some environmental exposures, specifically temperature and air pollution, can affect mental health in the neighborhoods of the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area, taking into account the axes of inequality: gender, age, nationality, socioeconomic level and neighborhood of residence.

• It is one of the projects that has a grant for research and innovation projects from Barcelona City Council. What does this help mean?
The objective of the call is to have a positive impact on society through the generation of scientific evidence to promote future political decisions and open access to research results to all citizens. And this is exactly what we want to achieve with this project. This aid will allow us to carry out a very necessary study, of great relevance in the current moment of climate crisis, and which we were very keen to carry out. And, in addition, they have given us the highest score, which represents a very important recognition for us.

• You are not alone in the project. Beware of the leadership of Talita Duarte-Salles and other colleagues. Who are you and how was this group formed?
The project has a multidisciplinary team from three leading research centers (IDIAPJGol, ISGlobal and ICTA-UAB) with complementary knowledge to answer the questions we ask ourselves with this project. The team was formed by researchers from different disciplines: epidemiologists, clinicians, data scientists, experts in air pollution and temperature, psychologists and sociologists.

• What phases does this study cover?
The project has three main objectives. The first two will be developed in parallel: a qualitative study and a quantitative study. In a first phase, the collection of environmental and health data will be carried out for the quantitative study, and the recruitment of participants and interviews for the qualitative one. In the second part, the statistical analysis and the analysis of the interviews will be carried out, with the writing of the results.
The third major objective will be realized once the results of the first two have been obtained. We will disseminate the results, with the help of an interactive online map open to the public where the results obtained in each neighborhood can be viewed.

• What use could be made of the conclusions of this study?
The results of this study make it possible to inform both institutions and citizens of how the environment is affecting the neighborhoods of Barcelona and the metropolitan area, taking into account socio-demographic differences. This can help identify which are the most vulnerable areas and population, in order to take preventive measures and propose solutions.

• What impact do you think climate change can have on mental health?
Climate change affects everyone, which means that everyone's mental health can be affected. I must say that mental health does not mean only receiving a diagnosis like depression, but also emotional and cognitive well-being. Mental health can be affected by both direct effects (inflammation due to air pollution, lack of sleep when it's hot at night...) and indirect effects (the perception of the effects of climate change itself or eco-anxiety).

• What did it mean to present this project in a framework such as the City and Science Biennale, with direct contact with citizens? What feedback did you get?
It was a very positive experience! I think it is important to give visibility to science and make it accessible to everyone, especially the citizens themselves, who can contribute ideas with a more pragmatic vision. The project was received very positively, with a particular interest in the role of the differences that may exist by neighborhood and the role that gender and socio-economic differences can play.

• Does mental health go by neighborhoods? That is to say, due to social inequities there are neighborhoods with the most punished population in terms of mental health?
It has been seen that in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods the prevalence of poor mental health is higher, although it is not only that: the numbers also change according to age, gender, education, country of birth, being unemployed or not, among other variables.