Currently I am investigating the association between climate change and mental health and health-related behaviors as well as possible vulnerabilities in these associations in Swedish and Finnish context. This work is funded by FORMAS. Climate change has increased temperatures in Scandinavian countries. Changes in winter temperatures have caused increased rainfall and decreased snowfall. Moreover, increased cloudiness has reduced the amount of solar radiation reducing the daylight exposure in already dark winters. Potential mental health effects of climate change have been stressed recently, however, the effects of reduced daylight during winter months on mental health have not been studied in Sweden. In this project, we are adressing these gaps. This work is in collaboration with Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and Finnish Meteorological Institute.

In my previous work at Stockholm University, I was involved in a project where I examined how the environmental characteristics of individual’s home and workplace separately and together were associated with different health behaviours, and whether the distance between home and workplace was associated with different health behaviours. This project was funded by FORTE.

Below are my publications with other institutes affliation

Auriba Raza, Mo Wang, Jurgita Narusyte, Pia Svedberg, and Annina Ropponen. Trajectories of sustainable working life in nine Swedish residential regions: a longitudinal twin cohort study. Journal of Occupational Health, May 2023.

Auriba Raza, Linda L. Magnusson Hanson, Hugo Westerlund, Pia Mäkelä, Jaana I. Halonen. Access to alcohol outlets from home and work in Sweden: longitudinal associations with problem drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 84(1), 37–44 (2023).

Mo Wang, Auriba Raza, Jurgita Narusyte, Karri Silventoinen, Petri Böckerman, Pia Svedberg, and Annina Ropponen. Life events as predictors of unsustainable working life trajectories from a life course perspective, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue Supplement_3, October 2022.

Annina Ropponen, Mo Wang, Auriba Raza, Jurgita Narusyte, and Pia Svedberg. (2022). Night Work and Sustainable Working Life—A Prospective Trajectory Analysis of Swedish Twins. Environmental Research and Public Health 2022, 19, 10857.

Auriba Raza, Marcus Dahlquist, Martin Jonsson, Jacob Hollenberg, Leif Svensson, Tomas Lind, & Petter L.S. Ljungman. (2019). Ozone and Cardiac Arrest: The Role of Previous Hospitalizations. Environmental Pollution, 245, February 2019, 1-8.

Auriba Raza, Marcus Dahlquist, Tomas Lind, & Petter Ljungman. (2018). Susceptibility to Short-term Ozone Exposure and Cardiovascular and Respiratory Mortality by Previous Hospitalizations. Environmental Health, 17(1):37.

Getahun Bero Bedada, Auriba Raza, Bertil Forsberg, Tomas Lind, Petter Ljungman, Göran Pershagen, & Tom Bellander. (2016). Short-term exposure to ozone and mortality in subjects with and without previous cardiovascular disease. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 27(5), 663-669.

Marcus Dahlquist, Auriba Raza, Getahun Bero-Bedada, Jacob Hollenberg, Tomas Lind, Nicola Orsini, Bengt Sjögren, Leif Svensson, & Petter L. Ljungman. (2016). Short-term departures from an optimum ambient temperature are associated with increased risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. International journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 219(4-5), 389-397.

Auriba Raza, Tom Bellander, Getahun Bero-Bedada, Marcus Dahlquist, Jacob Hollenberg, Martin Jonsson, Tomas Lind, Mårten Rosenqvist, Leif Svensson, & Petter L.S. Ljungman. (2014). Short-term effects of air pollution and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. European Heart Journal, 35(13), 861-868.

Auriba Raza, Iftikhar A. Raja, & Shahid Raza. (2012). Land-use Change Analysis of District Abbottabad Pakistan: Taking Advantage of GIS and Remote Sensing. Science Vision, 18(1&2).

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Distance to sports facilities and low frequency of exercise and obesity: a cross-sectional study

  2022. Auriba Raza (et al.). BMC Public Health 22

  Article

  Background: Little research has investigated the associations between proximity to physical activity facilities and behavior-related health and the majority have focused on proximity from home address. We add to the literature by examining proximity of these facilities to work and home address and including a wide range of physical activity facilities. We assess the associations for proximity of physical activity facilities from home and work address with self-reported frequency of exercise and obesity.

  Methods: Our analytical sample of 7358 participants was from the 2018 wave of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. We used logistic binomial regression adjusting for age, sex, education, civil status, individual socioeconomic status, neighborhood socioeconomic status, number of children under 12 years of age, work strain, and chronic disease.

  Results: Longer distance from home to paid outdoor and paid indoor physical activity facilities was associated with low frequency of exercise (fully adjusted Relative Risk for both 1.01, 95% CI 1.01–1.02). Associations of any or free outdoor facility with low frequency of exercise were not robust. Findings also indicated associations between long distance from workplace to any and paid outdoor facility and low frequency of exercise. Results for obesity were in the similar direction, however, these were not statistically significant.

  Conclusion: Increased distance of paid outdoor and paid indoor physical activity facilities from home and of paid outdoor facilities from work was associated with low frequency of exercise. Longitudinal and larger studies are needed to confirm our findings, particularly regarding obesity.

  Read more about Distance to sports facilities and low frequency of exercise and obesity

• Commuting distance and behavior-related health

  2021. Auriba Raza (et al.). Preventive Medicine 150

  Article

  Health benefits of active commuting and short commuting time are well-documented; however, limited evidence exists on the effects of commuting distance. We examined longitudinal associations between commuting distance and behavior-related health. Participants were from four survey waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018). Analytical sample included 11,023 individuals and 21,769 observations. Random effects method used binomial logistic regression with generalized estimating equations. The outcomes were self-reported physical inactivity, overweight, smoking, problem drinking, and disturbed sleep. Models were adjusted for age, sex, occupational position, civil status, chronic disease, work strain, number of children under 12, and home/workplace neighborhood socioeconomic status. Using continuous measure, long commuting distance was associated with a higher odds of physical inactivity (OR 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04–1.09 per doubling of distance), overweight (OR 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00–1.04), and disturbed sleep (OR 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00–1.05) in fully adjusted models. Using categorized measure, individuals who commuted longer distance had a higher odds of physical inactivity compared to those with the shortest commute (3.1 km - <7.9 km vs. <3.1 km: OR 1.15; 95% CI, 1.04–1.28 and 7.9 km - <20 km vs. <3.1 km: OR 1.18; 95% CI, 1.06–1.32, fully adjusted model). Such dose-response associations were not observed for overweight or disturbed sleep. Our results suggest short commuting distance may be beneficial for behavior-related health.

  Read more about Commuting distance and behavior-related health

• Home and Workplace Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Behavior-related Health

  2021. Auriba Raza (et al.). Annals of Behavioral Medicine 55 (8), 779-790

  Article

  Background: The influence of individual and home neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) on health-related behaviors have been widely studied, but the majority of these studies have neglected the possible impact of the workplace neighborhood SES.

  Objective: To examine within-individual associations between home and work place neighborhood SES and health-related behaviors in employed individuals.

  Methods: We used participants from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health who responded to a minimum of two surveys between 2012 and 2018. Data included 12,932 individuals with a total of 35,332 observations. We used fixed-effects analysis with conditional logistic regression to examine within-individual associations of home, workplace, as well as time-weighted home and workplace neighborhood SES index, with self-reported obesity, physical activity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, and disturbed sleep.

  Results: After adjustment for covariates, participants were more likely to engage in risky alcohol consumption when they worked in a workplace that was located in the highest SES area compared to time when they worked in a workplace that was located in the lowest SES area (adjusted odds ratios 1.98; 95% confidence interval: 1.12 to 3.49). There was an indication of an increased risk of obesity when individuals worked in the highest compared to the time when they worked in the lowest neighborhood SES area (1.71; 1.02–2.87). No associations were observed for the other outcomes.

  Conclusion: These within-individual comparisons suggest that workplace neighborhood SES might have a role in health-related behaviors, particularly alcohol consumption.

  Read more about Home and Workplace Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Behavior-related Health

Show all publications by Auriba Raza at Stockholm University