Pollution increases the risk of psychiatric disorders: Study

NEW DELHI: Researches from University of Chicago reveal that exposure to environmental pollution and an increase in the prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders are associated.

Sample population for the research was from both the United States -151 million unique individuals and Denmark -1.4 million unique individuals. The study found pollution associated with increased rates of bipolar disorder and major depression in both countries.

Khan and Andrey Rzhetsky, PhD, Edna K Papazian Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and the paper’s senior author, used a US health insurance database of 151 million individuals with 11 years of inpatient and outpatient claims for neuropsychiatric diseases. They compared the geo-incidence of claims to measurements of 87 potential air pollutants from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The areas with the worst air quality had a 27 per cent increase in bipolar disorder and six per cent increase in major depression when compared to those with the best air quality. The team also found a strong association between polluted soil and an increased risk of personality disorder.

For the US regiment, the team studied four psychiatric and two neurological conditions: bipolar disorder, major depression, personality disorder, and schizophrenia, epilepsy, and Parkinson disease. For the Danish regiment, the team studied study 4 psychiatric disorders: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorder, and depression.