Low-Income People Exposed To Rats In Urban Environment May Be More Likely To Have Depressive Symptoms

According to the NBC News (3/16, Fox) website, a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and published online Feb. 10 in the Journal of Community Psychology reveals that “people living in Baltimore’s low-income neighborhoods who see rats as a big problem are significantly more likely to have depressive symptoms such as sadness and anxiety.”

The Baltimore Sun (3/16, Cohn) reports that after surveying 448 low-income Baltimore residents, “researchers found that those who considered the rats a big problem were 72 percent more likely to experience depressive symptoms than those who lived in similar neighborhoods where rats weren’t a big problem.” The study’s lead author “said the findings could change the way public health and other officials frame the conversation about rats, usually considered a nuisance and a vector for disease more than a depressive force.”

Related Links:

— “Rats Depress People More Than Crime Does, Study Finds,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, March 16, 2016.

Posted in In The News.