Get away from the pollution!

Environmental pollution could affect not only physical health, but also mental well-being, two new studies suggest.

In one, researchers confirmed a connection long studied between air pollution and cardiovascular health, finding evidence that polluted air contributes to the triggering of strokes in vulnerable people.

 

Get away from the pollution!

The other study looks at a more recent issue: Could air pollution also affect mental health? He found that the answer is: "Possibly."

Among the more than 70,000 American women in the study, those living in relatively contaminated areas were more likely to report multiple symptoms of anxiety .

The studies, published in the journal BMJ, only link these factors; they do not show that air pollution is the direct cause of stroke or anxiety.

There could be other explanations, he saysMelinda Power, researcher at Johns Hopkins University , in Baltimore, author of the study.

He assures that his team included the other possible factors that could be taken into account, such as, for example, if women lived in a large city or if they had heart or lung conditions.

"But you can not take everything into account," says Power, who was at Harvard University at the time of the study.

 

"I think some of the most likely alternative explanations would be other forms of contamination," said Power. Chronic noise (traffic, for example) is a possibility, he says.

It is too early to declare that better air quality could help alleviate anxiety symptoms, emphasizes Power. "But it's an interesting finding," he says.

 

"And studies have to look in greater depth at this association between air pollution and mental health."

If a connection is confirmed, then reducing air pollution could have a "major impact" on mental health on a larger scale, according to Michael Brauer, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

That's because both anxiety disorders and pollution are common and global problems, says Brauer.

But he emphasizes that it is too early to say that environmental pollution is a risk factor for anxiety. "This is an initial investigation," says Brauer. "It's an intriguing finding, but you can not draw conclusions from a single study."

In general, the study highlights that the risk of women presenting symptoms of anxiety increased along with their exposure to environmental pollution. These particles are released into the air when fossil fuels are burned, so that smoke from cars and industrial sources, such as power plants, are big contributors.

 

How would the air pollution feed the symptoms of anxiety?

According to Power, one possibility is through an indirect effect, by worsening heart or lung disease, for example. But, he notes, this study suggests that chronic physical conditions are not the missing piece of the puzzle.

Inflammation is a more speculative explanation, says Brauer. Some laboratory research has suggested that inflammation affecting the brain could contribute to the anxiety .


Video Medicine: How to Protect Yourself From Air Pollution (March 2024).