Associations between Rat Infestations and Mental Health Vary by Gender, Race, and Income in Chicago

Abstract

Rats are an understudied stressor for people in urban environments around the world but the effects may not be distributed equally among residents. In this study, we examined associations between residential rat sightings and mental health in Chicago, where rat complaints are the highest of any American city. We examined how this relationship varied by frequency of rat sightings, race, ethnicity, income, home ownership, and gender and explored potential psychosocial pathways (e.g., feelings about the home) between rat sightings and mental distress. We conducted a randomized household survey along an income gradient in 2021 and asked about depressive symptoms in the past week (i.e., Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale), frequency of rat sightings in/around the home, perceptions of rats, neighborhood conditions, and socio-demographic characteristics. We used logistic regression to assess relationships among these variables for our entire sample and for specific demographics using stratified models. Respondents (n = 589; 409 complete cases) who saw rats in/around the home daily/almost daily had 5.5 times higher odds of reporting high depressive symptoms relative to respondents who saw rats less frequently after accounting for socio-demographics and neighborhood conditions. This relationship was significant for men and respondents with lower incomes or race or ethnicity other than white. Our results show that rat infestations should be considered a threat to mental health among urban residents. Increased mental health support for residents living in rat-infested housing may improve public health in cities.

Keywords: Household survey; Mental health; Rats.

Fig. 1

Map highlighting 12 community areas in Chicago where our survey was distributed by mail. Blue shading indicates the number of responses from each community area

Fig. 2

Relationship between the frequency of rat sightings in or around the home and the probability of having high depressive symptoms (i.e., CES-D score of ≥ 10) based on 589 survey respondents in Chicago, IL, USA

Fig. 3

Forest plot showing the coefficient estimates and associated 95% confidence intervals for all explanatory variables included in the final model with high depressive symptoms (i.e., CES-D ≥ 10) as the outcome variable (n = 409). Black circles and error bars indicate variables that were statistically significant (p < 0.05)

Fig. 4

Significant interaction between the probability of a survey respondent reporting high depressive symptoms, rats affecting how they feel about where they live, and if the respondent reported having above (black diamonds) or below (gray circles) an income of $50,000 USD (n = 409)