Environmental pollution and mental health: a narrative review of literature

Pollutant agents are exponentially increasing in modern society since industrialization processes and technology are being developed worldwide. Impact of pollution on public health is well known but little has been described on the association between environmental pollutants and mental health. A li...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:CNS spectrums Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 51 - 61
Main Authors: Ventriglio, Antonio, Bellomo, Antonello, di Gioia, Ilaria, Di Sabatino, Dario, Favale, Donato, De Berardis, Domenico, Cianconi, Paolo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.02.2021
Subjects:
Air pollution
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Autism
Emissions
Industrial development
Magnetic resonance imaging
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mutation
Nervous system
Neurodegeneration
Neurotoxicity
Nitrogen dioxide
Oxidative stress
Physiology
Pollutants
Review
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
noise
radiations
environment
pollution
heavy metals
mental health
ISSN:1092-8529, 2165-6509
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Pollutant agents are exponentially increasing in modern society since industrialization processes and technology are being developed worldwide. Impact of pollution on public health is well known but little has been described on the association between environmental pollutants and mental health. A literature search on PubMed and EMBASE has been conducted and 134 articles published on the issue of pollution and mental health have been included, cited, reviewed, and summarized. Emerging evidences have been collected on association between major environmental pollutants (air pollutants, heavy metals, ionizing radiation [IR], organophosphate pesticides, light pollution, noise pollution, environmental catastrophes) and various mental health disorders including anxiety, mood, and psychotic syndromes. Underlying pathogenesis includes direct and indirect effects of these agents on brain, respectively, due to their biological effect on human Central Nervous System or related to some levels of stress generated by the exposure to the pollutant agents over the time. Most of emerging evidences are still nonconclusive. Further studies should clarify how industrial production, the exploitation of certain resources, the proximity to waste and energy residues, noise, and the change in lifestyles are connected with psychological distress and mental health problems for the affected populations.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ObjectType-Review-3
content type line 23
ISSN:1092-8529
2165-6509
DOI:10.1017/S1092852920001303