Air pollution: An environmental risk factor for psychiatric illness?

It has become increasingly recognised that exposure to air pollution and poor air quality is having a detrimental impact on the health of millions in our society. Their findings suggest that areas with higher levels of air pollution were associated with increased rates of several mental illnesses, with bipolar disorder showing a particularly strong association in the US data. While the link between air quality and mental illness has received recent attention, the association between urban environment and the increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders, including mood disorders, anxiety and schizophrenia in particular is well recognised.[3] Urban environments have higher levels of air pollution, however, and Khan et al.[2] have discussed the complexity of quantifying and measuring air pollution alongside the difficulties of identifying air component "suspects" due to their collinear and likely synergistic contributions. [Extracted from the article]