Children breathing polluted air ‘more likely to self harm’

Growing up breathing polluted air may increase the risk of self harm in later life, a new study suggests.

The University of Manchester teamed up with Aarhus University in Denmark to look at 1.4 million people born in Denmark between 1979 and 2006. Nearly 33,000, or around 2.3 per cent, of them went on to self harm after their 10th birthday, with the risk increasing for those who had spent the first decade of their lives exposed to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide emitted from sources such as car exhausts, power generation, ships and heating systems.

Research indicated that exposure to an average of 19 micrograms per cubic metre of particulates was associated with a 48 per cent higher risk of subsequent self harm, compared to a mean daily exposure of less than 13 micrograms per cubic metre.

The risk rose to 50 per cent for those expoxed to 25 micrograms of particulates per cubic metre or more.