City living poses psychosis risk
City living significantly increases the risk of psychotic experiences such as hearing voices and paranoia in young people, research published today has revealed.
The study of 2,000 British 18-year-olds found that those growing up in urban areas were 40 per cent more likely to have had episodes of psychosis.
CITY-LIVING SIGNIFICANTLY increases the risk of psychotic experiences such as hearing voices and paranoia in young people, research published today has revealed.
The study of 2,000 British 18-year-olds found that those growing up in urban areas were 40 per cent more likely to have had episodes of psychosis than their countryside counterparts.
Among teenagers living in the largest and most densely populated cities, more than a third reported psychotic symptoms between the age of 12 and 18.
Participants were considered to have suffered from psychosis if they had reported at least one of 13 potential experiences, which included hearing voices, believing spies were watching them or their food was being poisoned.
Dr Helen Fisher, one of the researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said: “These findings highlight the importance of early, preventative strategies for reducing psychosis risk and suggests that adolescents living in threatening neighbourhoods within cities should be made a priority.
“If we intervene early enough, for example by offering psychological therapies and support to help them cope better with stressful experiences, we could reduce young people’s risk for developing psychosis and other mental health problems further down the line.”
Crime was a strong contributing factor, the study found. Among teenagers who had grown up in the most deprived neighbourhoods and been a victim of violent crime, 62 per cent reported psychotic experiences.
Adolescents are especially vulnerable to developing mental health problems and about 70 per cent of adults with psychiatric illness are thought to have become unwell during their early teenage years, said the researchers, whose findings are reported in the Schizophrenia Bulletin journal.
Up to one in three young people are thought to encounter psychotic experiences at some point. These individuals are at an increased risk of schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness as adults, and are also more likely to take their own lives than other members of the population.
Co-author Jo Newbury, also from the Institute of Psychiatry, said: “Our study suggests that the effects of city life on psychotic experiences are not limited to childhood but continue into late adolescence, which is one of the peak ages at which clinical psychotic disorders are typically diagnosed.”
Meanwhile, a separate study has revealed that high levels of air pollution could be blamed for a bad night’s sleep.
People living in areas with raised nitrogen dioxide were found to be up to 60 per cent more likely to suffer from sleep deprivation than those living in areas with lower pollution levels. The study suggests the impact of air pollution on the respiratory and central nervous system ultimately has an effect on how well people sleep.
Martha Billings, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington and the study’s lead author, said: “These new findings indicate the possibility that commonly experienced levels of air pollution not only affect heart and lung disease, but also sleep quality. Improving air quality may be one way to enhance sleep health and perhaps reduce health disparities.”
Air pollution is linked to an estimated 40,000 early deaths a year and 37 out of 43 areas across the UK are exceeding legal European Union limits for key pollutant nitrogen dioxide, much of which comes from diesel engines.