Commercial determinants of mental ill health: An umbrella review
Mental health disorders have multiple complex and interconnected causes, with broader health determinants often overlooked as potential risk factors. While the ‘commercial determinants of health’ are gaining increasing attention, the commercial factors influencing mental health remain less recognized. This umbrella study’s objective, conducted by Dun-Campbell et al. (2024), was to gather data at the level of a systematic review of the connections between commercial factors and mental health outcomes. Evidence from high-, middle-, and low-income nations was included in this analysis, which also examined six major harmful commodities: alcohol, tobacco, ultra-processed foods, gambling, social media, and fossil fuels. It also examined larger commercial activities and considered the effects of using fossil fuels, such as air pollution, climate change, and other types of pollution. Strong evidence from high-quality reviews was found in 65 studies that linked depression to tobacco, alcohol, social media, gambling, ultra-processed foods, and air pollution. Strong evidence linked suicide to tobacco, alcohol, social media, gambling, climate change, and air pollution, in addition to linking anxiety to climate change and air pollution and self-harm to social media. Research on the wider business activities of sectors is lacking, nevertheless. This umbrella review highlights that expanding the focus on commercial determinants can help better understand the impact of commercial products and activities on mental health. One significant gap that needs to be filled is the paucity of studies on the impact of more general business practices. Overall, the review underscores the solid foundation of high-quality evidence on the effects of unhealthy commodities on mental health and demonstrates the value of using commercial determinants as a framework for understanding mental health risks. [NPID: commercial determinants, mental health, unhealthy commodities, tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, gambling, social media, fossil fuels, climate change]
Year: 2024
