Air Pollution Can Drag One to Cognitive Illness

The health risks of air pollution are extremely dangerous. Poor air quality increases respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis, increases the risk of life-threatening diseases like cancer, and then one suffers from mental problems due to high medical costs.

It is alarming to know that according to a new study if people who are living more into the polluted environment and also growing up in areas with poor air quality are more likely to suffer from depression and bipolar disorder in their later life. Before getting into the exact studies, let us first know about depression and bipolar disorder.

Depression is the biggest problem being faced by people these days. It is nothing very difficult to understand but it is the extremely low mood faced by one. Some cope up with this mood and some fall into it. One who falls into it suffers the problem of depression. It leads to a break in relations and also suicide cases have also increased. This is a psychological disorder that is caused as a result of the various complications of modern life. A depressed person begins to believe that he is ill though he has no signs of any disease. But keeps on, finding someone who can diagnose his illness.

Such patients suffer from negative emotions and have a feeling of despair in security and hopelessness. These people do not like to make friends, meet or talk to anyone.

Bipolar disorder is another kind of mental illness that is marked by extreme shifts in mood. Its symptoms can include an extremely elevated mood called obsession. They can also fall into depression. Bipolar disorder can also be termed as bipolar disease or manic depression.

People have trouble managing everyday life tasks at school or work, or maintaining relationships with bipolar disorder. There’s no cure for it, but there are many treatment options available that can help to overcome the symptoms.

Linkage of Air Pollution and Cognitive Problems

Investigation of the survey conducted on health data from millions of patients found a strong connection between mental health disorders and exposure to air pollution, especially in childhood.

We should learn from the below research conducted by the scientist of the US and Denmark. The research was one of the latest studies on the pollution to link the air quality responsible for ill health, especially cognitive health.

The research was conducted by scientists at the University of Chicago, in which they had studied the data of American health insurance included 151 million people with 11 years of inpatient and outpatient. It was claimed that the majority of the people were suffering from neuropsychiatric diseases. Researchers then compared these claims to measurements of 87 potential hazardous air pollutants.

They observed that countries with the worst air quality had a 27 percent increase in bipolar disorder and a 6 percent higher incidence of major depression when compared with the countries having the best air quality.

Initially, there were quite a few known triggers for cognitive problems but now the pollution has given a new direction to it said by the author Andrey Rzhetsky, professor of medicine and human genetics.

He further said that the research conducted on dogs and rodents showed air pollution could get into the brain and cause inflammation which would result in symptoms resembling depression. Similarly, it is quite possible that the same thing happens in humans too.

Another research team from Chicago, applied the same methodology to data from 1.4 million Danish patients to authenticate their findings.

The study revealed that exposure to high levels of air pollution was linked to a more than two-fold increase in schizophrenic patients among the Danish patients as well as higher rates of personality disorder, depression, and bipolar disorder.

Studies in the United States and Denmark showed that living in polluted areas, especially early in life means in childhood, leads to mental disorders said by a computational biologist, Atif Khan, co-author of the study, the paper was published in PLOS Biology.

However, academics who were not involved in the research said other factors may account for the correlation like social networks: Facebook, whats app etc. are the major factors causing depression, this had been the main focus around for years. Dr Maughan also said that, there are many environmental factors which could contribute to poor mental health for those people living in areas of high pollution – such as population density and are not having access to green spaces, hence, it is therefore difficult to isolate poor air quality as the cause of mental illness.

A critical commentary, by Stanford professor John Ioannidis published alongside the study, said that it raised an “exciting possibility” that poor air quality might cause mental illnesses but still it has to be proved with more studies as this was not enough to make a clear case.

Dr. Mahagun said that, while the study is not very clear of air pollution causing mental illness, but no doubt it suggests a “strong link” exists between early exposure and an increased risk of developing mental ill-health.

According to a study published by Wolters Kluwer in the Journal Lippincott Portfolio, the mental health of teenagers is more susceptible to the damage caused by airborne particles.

In the study the researchers volunteered 144 teenagers; they were given a social stress test which included a five-minute speech and a math test. It was surprising to know that the adolescents’ heart rate and other bodily responses, it was found that teenagers had a higher autonomic response to stress. Further, it was added that these teenagers were also getting exposed to an increased level of PM 2.5 near their house.

Though the association between polluted air and greater stressors has not been explained in the study, this is sure that the toxic air may also damage neurodevelopment and cognitive function.

A report from China which was published in2018 in the Ochsner Journal points that according to their own country data, every 1 standard deviation rise in particulate matter over an average PM 2.5 concentration was found to increase the mental illness by 6.67%.

Hence, dirty air is not only suffocating the lungs, but it also impacts the way one thinks. It is clear from the above studies that there is an emergency to conduct the depth studies to determine the extent of damage air pollution is causing to our mental health.

The World Health Organisation has already warned that air pollution is killing 7 million people each year, which is equivalent to 13 deaths every minute, and more than the combined total of war, murder, tuberculosis, HIV, AIDs and malaria and previous studies had linked poor air quality to a range of conditions including asthma, heart disease, and various types of cancer.

Precautions

For now, instead of terrorizing over the stuffy air and AQI updates, it is more important to focus on what needs to be done. One can do smart work by reducing the use of the car, carpooling, using public transport, planting more trees, avoid burning the trash, there is a lot that can be done at an individual level.

“Prevention Is Better Than Cure”