Sick air ‘poisons’ the brain, increasing the risk of mental health problems. Prolonged exposure to smog can increase anxiety and depression, but noise pollution also promotes emotional disorders. A ‘fuse effect’ demonstrated by recent studies discussed at the psychiatry conference ‘The brain and changes. The climatic, environmental, affective and adaptive challenges’, which opened today in Bormio in the province of Sondrio. At the heart of the debate – which for three days will bring together over 50 Italian experts in the field, an expression of the academic world, research and clinical practice – are “problems increasingly connected to ongoing climate change”, which affect “health of man also in the form of cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory diseases”.
“During the work we will deepen the correlations between socio-cultural change and psychopathology, between the environment and psychopathology, the ‘new disorders’, but also how the psychopathological expressions of psychic diseases have changed. And of course we will take stock of the new therapeutic opportunities that the progress of scientific knowledge allows us today”, explains Claudio Mencacci, president of the conference, director emeritus of Neurosciences at the Fabetebenefratelli hospital in Milan and co-president of the Italian Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (Sinpf). If “on climate change the world continues to be divided between catastrophists and skeptics – observes Emi Bondi, director of the Department of Mental Health at the Papa Giovanni XXII hospital in Bergamo and president of the Italian Society of Psychiatry (Sip) – for some time now scientists are detecting the effects of this evolution on human health. It is by no means a false myth, but an ongoing change that we cannot afford to underestimate”.
“Many studies – recalls Bondi – correlate inflammation from exposure to toxic substances in the air to depression. Not only that: pollution has also been called into question for the increase in neurodevelopment disorders among the children of women exposed to pollutants atmospheric conditions, as well as the increase in degenerative brain pathologies such as Alzheimer’s. Not to mention noise: it has been demonstrated that noise pollution can cause very serious sleep disturbances”. Andrea Conca, director of the Bolzano District Psychiatric Service and professor at the University of Innsbruck, in Austria, points out that in Italy “in the last 60 years the average annual temperature has increased by almost one degree centigrade (0.8°), reaching peak in 2016. In a similar context we are witnessing a clear upsurge in the curves relating to the impact on health in its various forms: from infectious to respiratory diseases, from malnutrition to mental health problems. in the last 30 years, they have recorded the third-highest increase related to climate change”.
The discussion of the specialists at the conference starts from the effects of urbanization processes and, more generally, from the actions of man who influence the environment. “These are factors that have led to a significant increase in pollution levels, with significant consequences on global health – warns Alfonso Tortorella, full professor of Psychiatry at the University of Perugia – In particular, noise pollution has shown a association with cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory diseases. But the aspect that most aroused our surprise and interest was the increasingly frequent evidence on the possible role of pollution in the development of psychiatric disorders”.
The first demonstration cited by the experts are the results of an Italian study published in ‘Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences’, which indicates ozone, one of the main pollutants present in the air, a potential risk factor for mental health. “For two years, from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016 – reports Tortorella – data relating to access to the psychiatric emergency services of the general hospitals of Perugia and Foligno, in Umbria, was collected, linking them with the levels of atmospheric pollutants. L he observation of the overall 1,860 cases of admissions to the emergency room for mental disorders (of which 1,461 in Perugia and 399 in Foligno) made it possible to identify the pollutant that could be connected to the hospitalization precisely in the ozone. can be considered a potential risk factor for mental health and that exposure to ozone may be associated with an increase in psychiatric hospitalizations. A result that confirms what is reported by the existing literature on the relationship between air pollution and mental health”.
The international scientific literature, the psychiatrists point out, continues to produce studies that confirm the influence of the main pollutants on mental health. The latest one was published in ‘Jama Psychiatry’ and puts the particulate matter to the test, the set of solid or liquid substances suspended in the air, such as pollen, metals, smoke and more. “One of the smallest particles of particulate matter is Pm2.5,” Mencacci points out. “Its dimensions are equal to about one twentieth of a hair and capable of escaping the body’s defenses, nesting in the lungs and penetrating into the bloodstream, causing irritation, inflammation, respiratory problems. In particular the study, which was conducted in Great Britain on a sample of 389,185 people – reports the Sinpf co-president – identified 13,131 individuals who were diagnosed with depression and another 15,835 suffering from forms of anxiety.Not only that: the survey also found that the risk of both of these problems increase in people who live in more polluted areas. It is not yet clear what links pollution with anxiety and depression, because these are statistical analyses. But the key data remains “.
Finally, point the finger at noise, a work published in the ‘International Review of Psychiatry’. “The research – summarizes Tortorella, first author of the study – has demonstrated how living near a very busy road, a railway or an airport, exposes us to the risk of the onset of affective disorders. This could also be mediated by the occurrence of rhythm disturbances circadian rhythms or annoyance and sensitivity to noise, two factors capable of influencing psychological well-being and quality of life”.