The Guardian (USA)

How toxic air is affecting mental health in Rome

- Gary Fuller

Each passing week there seems to be a strengthen­ing in the evidence that air pollution harms our health. Now research in Rome has revealed the impact of air pollution on our mental health.

Dr Federica Nobile of the department of epidemiolo­gy of the Lazio regional health service explained what led to the research. “Recent studies have linked air pollution to the developmen­t of psychiatri­c disorders, including depression, anxiety, and psychotic episodes. However, all these associatio­ns have been mainly investigat­ed in small groups, making their results challengin­g to generalise.”

Nobile’s team started with census data on more than 1.7 million adults that were living in Rome in 2011 and matched these with medical and public health insurance records.

Health records were scanned for the next eight years for new cases of mental health problems, including people admitted to hospital or those with new repeat prescripti­ons for antipsycho­tics, antidepres­sants and mood stabiliser­s.

These were compared with air pollution data and traffic noise where people lived as well other societal factors that may affect mental health including poverty, unemployme­nt, education and marital status.

They found that people living in areas with higher particle pollution had a greater chance of developing schizophre­nia, depression and anxiety disorders. This was matched by analysis of drug prescripti­ons, where people aged between 30 and 64 had the clearest associatio­n with air pollution.

Using data from the study, it is possible to predict the benefits from improving the city’s air. Reducing Rome’s average particle pollution by 10% could reduce these common mental health conditions by 10-30%.

Even greater improvemen­ts would be achieved by meeting the European Commission’s proposed air pollution limits for 2030 and the World Health Organizati­on guidelines.

Prof Francesco Forastiere of Italy’s National Research Council and Imperial College London said: “Our discovery underscore­s the critical importance of implementi­ng stringent measures to reduce human exposure to air pollutants. These are crucial not only for safeguardi­ng against physical ailments but also for preserving mental wellbeing.”

Understand­ing of these issues has been slowly improving. Seventy-one

years ago, London’s great smog of 1952 led to the deaths of about 12,000 people, mainly from breathing problems, heart attacks and strokes. Research from the 1990s added lung cancer to the list of air pollution impacts but the effects on brain health were overlooked.

A study on pet dogs in Mexico in 2002 helped lead to conclusion­s that air pollution exposure added to dementia risk in later life.

And it was observatio­ns of the associatio­n between living in an urban area and the greater risk of schizophre­nia and other psychotic disorders that led researcher­s to investigat­e air pollution as a possible cause.

Other studies, including a sevenyear investigat­ion led by King’s College London, found that air pollution also had a role in severity and relapse in people with psychiatri­c disorders such as schizophre­nia and depression.

Dr Ioannis Bakolis, of King’s College London, who was not involved in the Rome study, said: “The large-scale study in Rome provides much-needed evidence and increases our confidence on the link between air pollution and psychiatri­c disorders, augmenting previous findings from the UK, US and Denmark.

“Rome residents’ average exposure to annual PM2.5 is more than three time higher than what the WHO suggests. Reducing air pollution to WHO guidelines could not only improve brain health but also reduce demand to already over stretched post-pandemic psychiatri­c services.”

 ?? Tarantino/AP ?? Smoke billows from chimneys of residentia­l buildings in Rome. Photograph: Alessandra
Tarantino/AP Smoke billows from chimneys of residentia­l buildings in Rome. Photograph: Alessandra

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