New paper published in The Lancet finds possible link between air pollution and psychiatric health
A new paper titled “Associations of short-term exposure to air pollution and increased ambient temperature with psychiatric hospital admissions in older adults in the USA: a case-crossover study” published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that in the US Medicare population, short-term exposure to elevated concentrations of PM2·5 , NO2 and cold season ambient temperature increase were significantly associated with an increased risk of hospital admissions for psychiatric disorders (including depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders).
Considering the increasing burden of psychiatric disorders in the US population, these findings suggest that intervening on air pollution and ambient temperature levels through stricter environmental regulations or climate mitigation could help ease the psychiatric healthcare burden. The paper was authored by Xinye Qiu, Mahdieh Danesh-Yazdi, Yaguang Wei, Qian Di, Allan Just, Antonella Zanobetti, Marc Weisskopf, Francesca Dominici, and Joel Schwartz.
