Health outcome · disease
Depression
Also: depressive symptoms, depressive disorder, major depression, depression score
Persistent low mood with loss of interest and function, measured in population research by validated symptom scales rather than by diagnosis. It appears in indoor air research through housing conditions that are unpleasant to live with and through pollutants that reach the brain.
Not reviewed by a clinician. This entry describes a disease or a symptom. We are introducing clinical review for pages of this kind; until that reviewer is in place, this page has been written and checked by the Coridum team but not reviewed by a clinician. It is general information and not medical advice. How this library is built is described in How we build this library.
Why it matters indoors
Two explanations are on the table and the evidence does not yet separate them.
The first is experiential. Living with visible dampness, a musty smell, cold rooms or smoke is a daily burden, and it comes bundled with insecure housing and low income; a scale that measures mood will register that, whatever the biology.
The second is physiological. Fine particles and combustion products provoke systemic inflammation, and inflammation is one of the mechanisms through which depressive symptoms are thought to arise, which would make the association a direct one.
The studies that make this page interesting are those large enough to test both, particularly cohorts of older adults in which the same household exposure is examined against mood, anxiety and cognition together. Coridum records what the study measured — a symptom score, not a diagnosis — and keeps the two separate, because a scale above a cut-off is not the same statement as a clinical case.
Indoor factors with evidence
| Factor | Effect | Population | Study design | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formaldehyde (CH₂O) | no effect size in the sentence; depressive symptoms by questionnaire, filed under depression | schoolchildren and adolescents (grades 3-4 and 7) · classroom and bedroom | cross-sectional study of schoolchildren and adolescents in China with real-time portable monitoring of PM2.5, PM10, CO2, formaldehyde, TVOC, temperature and humidity in classrooms and bedrooms on weekdays and weekends, depressive symptoms by questionnaire, single-pollutant logistic models | F-0347 Wang et al. Spatiotemporal Patterns of Indoor Air Pollution and Its Asso… (2025) | machine |
| Particulate matter (PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀) | no effect size in the sentence; depressive symptoms by questionnaire, filed under depression | schoolchildren and adolescents (grades 3-4 and 7) · classroom and bedroom | cross-sectional study of schoolchildren and adolescents in China with real-time portable monitoring of PM2.5, PM10, CO2, formaldehyde, TVOC, temperature and humidity in classrooms and bedrooms on weekdays and weekends, depressive symptoms by questionnaire, single-pollutant logistic models | F-0348 Wang et al. Spatiotemporal Patterns of Indoor Air Pollution and Its Asso… (2025) | machine |
| Mould | OR 2.26 (1.93–2.63) | — · home | cross-sectional analysis of a national cohort of older adults: self-reported mold exposure at home and the fuel used for cooking related to depression and anxiety, with adjusted odds ratios | F-1592 Ma Association of mold exposure and solid household fuel use wi… (2025) | machine |
| Solid fuel | OR 1.27 (1.10–1.47) | — · home | cross-sectional analysis of a national cohort of older adults: self-reported mold exposure at home and the fuel used for cooking related to depression and anxiety, with adjusted odds ratios | F-1594 Ma Association of mold exposure and solid household fuel use wi… (2025) | machine |
| Mould | OR 1.83 (1.58–2.11) | — · home | cross-sectional analysis of a national cohort of older adults: indoor musty odour reported by the household related to depression and anxiety symptoms, with adjustment for confounders | F-1687 Associations of indoor musty odors with depression and anxie… (2025) | machine |
| Solid fuel | OR 1.09 (1.03–1.16) | — · home | cross-sectional study of Chinese adults: household cooking fuel recorded by interview and depressive symptoms measured with the ten-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale | F-1798 Dong et al. Association between the domestic use of solid cooking fuel a… (2022) | machine |
| Solid fuel | beta 0.23 (0.12–0.35) | — · home | cross-sectional study of Chinese adults: household cooking fuel recorded by interview and depressive symptoms measured with the ten-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale | F-1799 Dong et al. Association between the domestic use of solid cooking fuel a… (2022) | machine |
Each row is one Finding — a sentence as printed in one study, recorded with its page in the Coridum Knowledge Base. Follow the Finding number for the exact wording and the citation. Checked says who verified the row: machine means every automatic check passed and the surrounding text was read; person means someone read the sentence in the document. Rows are re-checked by a person over time. The studies are curated in the Coridum Knowledge Base; the reading of them together is a Claim, shown separately.
Identifiers
- MeSH
- D003863
Cite this page
Coridum Research. Depression. Coridum Knowledge G-0149, 16 September 2026. https://coridum.com/k/G-0149/