Association between ethylene oxide and the risk of depression symptoms in US adults: a cross-sectional study from NHANES

Abstract Ethylene oxide (EO) is an organic compound widely distributed in the environment. However, the association between EO exposure and the risk of depression remains uncertain. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential link between EO exposure and depression risk.In this cross-sectional study, a total of 5,120 persons aged 20 years or older from 2013 to March 2020 NHANES database were included. Depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and scored by asking respondents about the frequency of depressive symptoms in the past two weeks, with a total score of ≥ 10 considered clinically relevant depression. Logistic regression, restricted cubic spline regression modeling, and sensitive analyses were used to assess whether hemoglobin adducts of blood ethylene oxide (HbEO) were associated with depression.In this study, the overall prevalence of depression was 7.8%, and the prevalence was 6.2% in male VS 9.3% in female. Regression analysis using log2-transformed HbEO as a continuous and quartile variable revealed that blood HbEO levels were associated with the risk of depression, not only different depressive symptoms,but the different factor models.