Exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of suffering from depression or anxiety, even at levels of exposure considered low, according to a recent study conducted in the United Kingdom.
The lungs are not the only organs affected and respiratory diseases are not the only diseases to which the many people breathing polluted air are exposed. Air pollutants also have negative effects on the brain and being exposed to them is a risk factor for mental illness, underline the study whose results are published in the journal “Jama Psychiatry”.
Estimated long-term exposure to several air pollutants was associated with a greater risk of depression and anxiety and this risk is not dose-dependent (dose-dependent), the researchers specify, noting that it does not do not necessarily need a large amount to increase the risk.
The air pollutants studied come mainly from coal and natural gas power plants, the combustion of fuel from cars and thermal trucks, construction sites and forest fires, it is known.
