Air pollution linked to more hospitalisations for all causes, mental illness too, study finds

A research has found an increased hospital admissions for all causes, including mental illnesses, in relation to a long-term exposure to air pollution.

The Scottish study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open, found that a higher exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) combined was linked to a higher hospitalisations for cardiovascular, respiratory and infectious diseases.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews, UK, found that for every one micron per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 and NO2 pollutants, the incidence for hospitalisations for respiratory conditions rose by over four per cent and one per cent, respectively.

Further, higher hospital admissions for mental or behavioural disorders were associated with an increased exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

While the average yearly levels of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were lower than the 2005 World Health Organization guidelines, the levels of NO2 and PM2.5 were higher than those in the more recent 2021 guidelines, the team said.

They added that previous studies analysing the health impacts of long-term exposure to air pollution have tended to look at deaths, rather than hospital admissions.

The study tracked 202,237 people (representing five per cent of the country’s population), aged 17 and above, from the Public Health Scotland database between 2002 and 2017.

“Air pollution was associated with higher rates of hospital admissions for both physical (eg, respiratory, cardiovascular and infectious) and mental/behavioural diseases,” the authors wrote.