LDepression, as well as anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, it is known that they can be triggered by exogenous causes, ie that depend on external factors. But now an Italian study carried out on just under two million people followed for eight years, quantifies the mental health impact of chronic exposure to fine and ultra-fine particles, present in air pollution. In summary, smog can cause depression and other mental symptoms.
Depression and smog: the study
Pollution has harmful effects not only on the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system or cognitive activity. It can modify brain functioning to the point of compromising it and developing psychiatric pathologies, especially in age range between 30 and 64 years. But here’s in detail what the significant data are. For each increment of approximately 1 microgram per cubic meter in exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), the risk of depression increases by 13%. 9% anxiety disorders, 7% schizophrenia.
If the smog increases, more psychiatric drugs are used
Similarly there is one correlation between the presence of smog and the increase in prescriptions of antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers that grow up to 4%.
When the urban air quality is poorer also increases the risk of a worsening of existing psychiatric diseases. An Italian study on patients with bipolar depression shows that in the days of atmospheric particulate matter the probability of hospitalization is high for a manic episode can quadruple.
Smog and the brain: how it affects cognitive functioning
“These disturbing new data on the long-term effects of pollution indicate that it is smog is a real danger not only to the heart and lungs, but also to the brain“, explains Sergio Hararico-president of the Seminar and Director of the Pneumology Operating Unit, San Giuseppe MultiMedica Hospital in Milan and professor of Internal Medicine at the State University.
“We knew that polluted air is detrimental to brain function, because for example, exposure to smog worsens brain performance and even accelerates age-related cognitive decline, increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s ».
Damage also in the mother’s belly
“Mthe preliminary results of the new studies indicate that smog can be toxic to brain functioning to the point of also causing psychiatric pathologies, probably through a increase in general inflammation or for aalteration of antioxidant defenses. The damage of smog on the brain is evident at any ageeven if you are exposed to smog during the fetal period. It has been shown that pollution levels below the thresholds established by the European Union (annual average of PM10: 40 micrograms per m3) involve alterations in children’s brain development, with one cerebral cortex that becomes thinner in some areas and then to a increased risk of problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder», Continues Harari.
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Green spaces help cognitive development
«The effect of smog on cognitive development in children is now also known: we know for example that i levels of exposure to air pollution correlate with skills in mathematical and language tests and the more one is exposed to smogthe more with the passing of the years the cognitive abilities necessary to carry out the tests deteriorate, especially in males and in those belonging to disadvantaged socio-cultural groups “, comments Pier Mannuccio Mannucci, co-president of the Seminary and Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Milan and Milan Polyclinic. “In reverse green spaces in the school and its surroundings help learning, leading to an improvement in cognitive development: plants and trees reduce air pollution and in parallel lead children to have an improvement in memory and attention skills, to the benefit of school performance“.
Most affected? Between 30 and 64 years old
“The results indicate that i levels of fine and ultrafine particles to which one is exposed are related to the increased risk of suffering a mental pathology», Explains Massimo Stafoggia, of the Department of Epidemiology of the Health Service of the Lazio Region – ASL Roma 1, author of the survey with Federica Nobile and other colleagues. “We observed that with increasing exposure to particulate matter the risk of depression increases by 13%, that of anxiety disorders by 9%, that of schizophrenia by 7%. Positive associations have also been shown for nitrogen dioxide and coal dustas is evident a increase in prescriptions of antidepressants (+ 1.3%) and antipsychotics (+ 4%) as PM2.5 levels increase“.
High PM10 and risk of hospitalization for bipolar depression
There danger of smog on mental well-being is confirmed by another study conducted in partnership by Operational Units of Epidemiology and Psychiatry of the Polyclinic of Milan about 200 patients with bipolar depression. Patients were hospitalized there for manic episode between 2007 and 2019. Analyzing the data relating to exposure to smog in the previous days, it emerged that the increase of PM10 in the air is associated with a higher risk of hospitalization, 3.6 times higher than normal on the second day after exposure to particularly polluted air.
«These data confirm the negative effects of pollution on mental healthindicating that environmental conditions can greatly influence the management of patients with bipolar depression, ”he concludes Michele Carugno, co-author of the study with Massimiliano Buoli and other colleagues, Department of Clinical and Community Sciences, University of Milan and Epidemiology Unit, IRCCS Ca ‘Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Foundation.
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