The Plasma Proteome Mediates the Association Between Workplace Noise Exposure and Psychiatric Disorder Risk.

Abstract

AIMS: Workplace noise exposure has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes, yet the underlying biological processes remain incompletely understood. We aimed to characterize workplace noise-related plasma proteomic profiles, examine the mediating role of circulating proteins in the associations between workplace noise exposure and psychiatric disorders, and quantify individual susceptibility. METHODS: Using UK Biobank data, we characterized workplace noise-related proteomic profiles and examined the associations between workplace noise exposure and incident psychiatric disorders. Proteins associated with both exposure and disease risk were identified, followed by functional enrichment and mediation analyses. Workplace Noise-related Protein Risk Scores (WNPRSs) were constructed from shared mediator proteins to assess individual susceptibility, joint risk patterns, and predictive performance. RESULTS: We identified 229 workplace noise-associated plasma proteins, with assay-specific enrichment predominantly involving extracellular and membrane-associated cellular components. Circulating proteins partially mediated the associations of workplace noise exposure with anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD), with mediation proportions ranging from 1.9% to 9.2% and 2.5% to 19.4%, respectively. WNPRS-Anxiety and WNPRS-MDD, both based on 44 shared mediator proteins, were associated with workplace noise exposure and the risks of the corresponding psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies workplace noise-related plasma proteomic signatures, suggests that circulating proteins partly mediate noise-associated psychiatric risk, and highlights the potential utility of WNPRS for characterizing individual susceptibility.

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