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The Effects of Air Pollution on Mental Health and Well-being / ELLA CHRISTOFOROU
Swansea University Author: ELLA CHRISTOFOROU
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Copyright: The Author, Ella Christoforou, 2023. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0).
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Abstract
Air pollution is a significant environmental risk to human health. Historically, the impact of air pollutionhas focused upon the physical health effects, yet the implications on mental health have receivedlimited attention. Despite this, recent research has highlighted emerging evidence supporting a...
| Published: |
Swansea, Wales, UK
2023
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Master of Research |
| Degree name: | MRes |
| Supervisor: | Clift, M. |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65665 |
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| Abstract: |
Air pollution is a significant environmental risk to human health. Historically, the impact of air pollutionhas focused upon the physical health effects, yet the implications on mental health have receivedlimited attention. Despite this, recent research has highlighted emerging evidence supporting apossible aetiological link. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the potentialconsequences of air pollution upon various mental health and well-being issues.In a PRISMA based systematic review multiple databases were searched from January 2012 to 2022for peer-reviewed, English-language, human based primary research. Of the 2,224 studies identifiedin the literature search, 87 met the inclusion criteria. The mental health and well-being issues exploredwere psychosis, anxiety, suicide, mania, hospital visits, and self-reported well-being. Depression wasomitted due to a recent systematic review on the condition. The key pollutants investigated asdescribed by the World Health Organisation (2021) were particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), sulphuroxides (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Data from the review revealed airpollution could have adverse effects on various mental health and well-being issues (suicide, anxiety,life satisfaction). The key finding was the positive association between PM and NO2 on stress andpsychotic disorders. However, a negative impact from air pollutants for some of the mental healthoutcomes was less clear because of a lack of research (e.g., mania and self-harm) and contradictoryfindings (e.g., anxiety and suicide). Overall, the most noted effect was the positive associationbetween psychotic disorders and NOx which was demonstrated in ten studies with only onecontradictory finding.These results were further investigated by Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) because ofthe heterogeneity of the studies in the review. SAIL contains anonymised longitudinal, routinelycollected, health, social, and environmental data on the Welsh population. Therefore, an indication ofreal-life associations was explored between psychotic disorder diagnoses and PM2.5, PM10, NOx. Aweak positive correlation was found between PM2.5 and the percentage of schizophrenia or otherpsychotic disorders (OPD). Whereas a weak negative correlation and no correlation was found forPM10 and NOx respectively. The descriptive statistics generated found more than double the numberof people with psychotic disorders in the most deprived compared to the least deprived areas. Incontrast, sex, age and rural or city residence did not show much variation between the schizophreniaor OPD cohort and the whole population.In conclusion, the overall findings indicate that PM and NO2 were the most hazardous pollutants towell-being e.g., stress, and severe mental disorders e.g., schizophrenia. Additionally, knowledge gapswere identified such as how deprivation could affect potential associations and the causal mechanism.More high-quality research is required due to limited and some contradictory findings. Overall, theevidence suggests reducing air pollution could have benefits for physical and mental health. |
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| Item Description: |
Part of this thesis has been redacted to protect personal information |
| Keywords: |
Mental health, well-being, air pollution, systematic review, deprivation, data-linkage |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |