Dirty air can damage mental health – study

Us/denmark

Living in an area with high air pollution increases the chance of suffering from a major mental illness or depression, scientists have discovered.

In the biggest study ever looking into a link between emissions and neuropsychiatric disorders, researchers compared 151 million health insurance records with pollution statistics across the US. The team from the University of Chicago then verified their findings using data from health registers covering 1.4 million people in Denmark.

Americans living in the most highly polluted areas were at 27 per cent increased risk of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, while incidents of major depression rose by 6 per cent.

Likewise, Danes who were exposed to high emissions before the age of 10 were 50 per cent more likely to suffer major depression in adulthood, and at more than double the risk of schizophrenia and personality disorders, compared to people who grew up in the freshest air.

The research was published in the journal PLOS Biology.

Dr Atik Khan, a study author and computational biologist, said: ‘‘Our studies in the United States and Denmark show that living in polluted areas, especially early in life, is predictive of mental disorders.’’

In recent years, scientists have attempted to uncover the genetic variations that make some people more susceptible to mental health problems. But they have increasingly found that DNA seems to account for just 10 per cent of the risk for most people, leading experts to think that a complex interplay of genetics, neurochemicals and social factors is to blame.

Recent studies on rodents have shown that small particulates, such as those emitted by diesel engines, can travel to the brain through the nose and lungs, and animals exposed to pollution have shown signs of cognitive impairment and depression-like symptoms.