Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included in the meta-analysis
| Ref No | Article | Location | Study duration | Sample size |
Mean/
median age |
Female
(%) |
Exposure
assessment |
Outcome assessment | Confounders | Effect estimates | Design | Study quality |
| Outdoor ALAN | ||||||||||||
| 22 | Jin (2023) | UK | 2006–2010 | 298,283 | 56.58 | 53.4 | NPP-VIIRS-like data | Physician-diagnosed records | Age, sex, ethnicity, education level, household income, diagnosed diabetes, diagnosed CVD/hypertension, Townsend deprivation, PM2.5, NO2, greenness percentage, and night-time noise |
HR = 1.036 (1.004, 1.069) per 11.37 nW/cm2/sr increase |
Cohort | High |
| 23 | Min (2018) | Korea | 2009 | 220,258 | 40 | 54.3 | National Centers for Environmental Information | CESD questionnaire | Age, gender, marital status, education, monthly income, job category, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, moderate physical activity, disease history (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, or hyperlipidemia), night noise, PM10, and parks and green spaces |
OR = 1.29 (1.15, 1.46) per 47.25 nW/cm2/sr increase |
Cross- sectional |
High |
| 25 | Paksarian (2020) | USA | 2019–2020 | 10,123 | 15.2 | 48.8 | DMSP/OLS data | Modified version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview |
Age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, parental, education, family structure, nativity, region, urbanicity, area-level population density, and socioeconomic status |
OR = 1.07 (1.00, 1.15) per 1 nW/cm2/sr increase |
Cross- sectional |
High |
| 9 | Yu (2022) | China | 2012–2018 | 21,036 | 50 | 51.35 | NPP-VIIRS | CESD questionnaire | Age, drinking, education, gender, income, marital status, nationality, physical activity, obesity, residence, and smoking |
OR = 1.052 (1.008, 1.097) per 1 nW/cm2/sr increase |
Cohort | Moderate |
| 26 | Zhu (2023) | China | 2009–2011 | 6,445 | 82.1 | Unknown | DMSP/OLS data | CESD questionnaire | Age, years of education, family history of mental illness, physical activities, social activities, smoking, drinking, marital status, insomnia, PM2.5, and history of diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and region of each community |
OR = 1.22 (1.06, 1.40) per 53.42 nW/cm2/sr increase |
Cross- sectional |
Moderate |
| Indoor ALAN | ||||||||||||
| 24 | Obayashi (2018) | Japan | 2010–2014 | 863 | 72.5 | 51 | Portable light meter placed facing the ceiling at the head of the participant’s bed | GDS questionnaire | Age, gender, body mass index, household income, hypertension, diabetes, sleep disturbances, bedtime, and duration in bed | HR = 1.72 (1.03, 2.89) per 12 lux |
Cohort | High |
| 8 | Obayashi (2022) | Japan | 2010–2019 | 2,947 | 69.3 | 60.6 | Portable light meter placed facing the ceiling at the head of the participant’s bed | GDS questionnaire | Age, gender, smoking and drinking habit, income, education, physical activity, bedtime, duration in bed, daylength, and medication use | OR = 1.3 (0.98, 1.73) per 9.87 lux |
Cross- sectional |
High |
Abbreviations: ALAN, artificial light at night; CESD, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression; DMSP/OLS, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; NPP-VIIRS, the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership-Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite; OR, odds ratio.
Note: Developed regions: Japan, Korea, UK, and USA; Developing regions: China; the study quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).