Kings College research: Teenage psychotic experiences more common in areas with high air pollution
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Teenage psychotic experiences more common in areas with high air pollution
Research from King’s College London provides the first evidence of an association between air pollution and psychotic experiences in adolescence.
27.3.2019 (Kings College website)
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/news-article?id=4ccf84a5-2e65-4023-b08d-bae7516dca08
from which most of the information in the Times article comes.
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The study itself is in JAMA at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2729441
Teenage psychosis linked to air pollution in cities for first time
Teenagers living on polluted roads are about 40% more likely to be psychotic, the first study of its kind finds.
Air pollution goes a long way to explaining why adolescents in cities are twice as likely to suffer psychosis as those in rural areas, researchers said.
While the study does not prove that traffic fumes cause psychosis, experts said it added to mounting evidence that dirty air can do far-reaching damage to the brain and lungs.
Fine particles and nitrous oxides in the air have long been known to cause breathing and heart problems. Evidence is emerging that they can contribute to depression and dementia.
In the latest study, researchers have used data on 2,232 teenagers in England and Wales who were asked about psychotic experiences, such as whether they heard voices or felt they were being watched. About a third had such experiences. While most will grow out of them, these teenagers are at higher risk of going on to suffer full-blown psychosis.
The answers were compared with detailed modelling of pollution levels at the teenagers’ homes. Joanne Newbury, of King’s College London, lead author of the paper, said that psychotic experiences were significantly more common among teenagers exposed to higher levels of air pollution.
“For example, teenagers exposed to the highest levels of nitrous oxides had 72 per cent greater odds for psychotic experiences compared with those with lower exposure,” she said.
This means that 38 per cent of adolescents reported psychotic experiences in the quarter of areas with the highest nitrous dioxide levels, compared with 27 per cent of the quarter with the lowest, an increased risk of roughly 40 per cent.
The link remained significant even after this was adjusted for class, drug use, family history of mental illness and other factors, according to results presented in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Helen Fisher, senior author, also of King’s College London, said that the results did not show cause and effect. She added, however: “It could be that smaller particles are getting into the brain and causing inflammation.”
Highly volatile chemicals carried deep into the body by pollution could also be contributing.
Daniel Maughan, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “This new research builds on increasing evidence of a likely link between air pollution and mental health issues. We need a radical approach to air pollution as it is very likely damaging the mental health of young and older people alike.”
Sophie Dix, director of research at the mental health charity MQ, said: “This study is significant because it provides a starting point with a possible link between pollution and psychosis.
“There is no evidence that pollution necessarily causes psychosis or whether this is one of many factors or acting in isolation. There is a bigger picture here but that does not diminish the importance of these findings.”
Stefan Reis, of the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said: “This new study makes a compelling case to investigate a range of mental health outcomes of air pollution exposure. Other variables worth studying could include academic attainment in early life stages and cognitive decline in old age due to early-life exposure to air pollution.”
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See earlier:
TAG: Heathrow air pollution does NOT stop 2km from the airport, or just 1,000ft altitude. DfT is wrong
Teddington Action Group (TAG) have been doing research into how likely it is that air pollution will get worse, if Heathrow is allowed a 3rd runway. Their investigations indicate that government has not assessed this properly, and has ignored relevant available information from other airports. TAG say that according to Heathrow, emissions from planes do not contribute notably to emissions once the plane is above 1,000ft. The Airports Commission and DfT and its advisors set a study area of just 2 kilometres from the expanded airport boundary. There is much evidence to indicate that is wrong. Planes emit significant amounts of NO2 and particulates, which find their way down to the ground (and by definition into humans and living creatures as well as vegetation). The DfT deny this but the empirical evidence does not support the DfT. Studies between 2014 and 2016 at Los Angeles, Atlanta and Schiphol, Amsterdam, strongly suggest otherwise. Mobile monitors set up under the inward flight paths show that particulates and NO2 are transmitted by the wind up to some 20 kilometres down wind. See full article for details.
Click here to view full story…
Alistair Osborne of the Times: Heathrow expansion shows Gove’s air pollution strategy is hot air
In a blog by Alistair Osborne, of the Times, he says on air pollution: “No government minister ever got anywhere without being able to think two contradictory ideas at once. So why should Michael Gove be different? The environment secretary’s just published his Clean Air Strategy, complete with the rallying cry: “We must take strong, urgent action.” And what sort of action has the government he represents got in mind? That’s right: building a £14 billion 3rd runway at Heathrow. Yes, the same one that transport secretary Chris Grayling admits may well cause more pollution. Or, as last year’s Airports National Policy Statement put it: “Increases in emissions of pollutants during the construction or operational phases of the scheme could result in the worsening of local air quality.” Bizarrely, the H-word doesn’t get a mention in Mr Gove’s 109-page document. But maybe he didn’t want to draw attention to one awkward fact: that air quality around the airport is already in breach of EU limits for nitrogen dioxide emissions. Read the whole article …..
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Study identifies heavy metals in high concentrations of potentially harmful airborne nanoparticles around Trudeau airport.
A recent study by scientists at Montreal’s McGill university has found unusually high concentrations of potentially harmful airborne aerosols containing nanoparticles around Montreal’s Trudeau airport. Some contained chromium and arsenic. The study, published in December 2018 in the prestigious journal “Environmental Pollution” found these observations were statistically higher than corresponding measurements in downtown Montreal and at major highways during rush hour. The airport is thus a hotspot for nanoparticles containing “emerging contaminants” (substances produced by human activities that have, or are suspected to have, adverse ecological and/or human health effects.) The study found trends in levels of nanoparticles during the day showed concentrations that exhibited peaks during times with many flights, also showing correlations with pollutants (CO, NOx, and O3) – confirming the anthropogenic source of the aerosols. The nanoparticles, especially containing heavy metals, are potentially a matter of public health. The study detected up to 2 million particles per cubic centimetre of air, which is more than the amount found so far at other airports. More studies need to be carried out, as health is at stake.
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Teddington TAG shows London Assembly data proves Heathrow NOx travels far, far away from the airport (not just Grayling’s “2km”)
The Airports Commission had, as its study area for the effects of Heathrow expansion, an area of just 2 kilometres from the boundary of the expanded airport. Chris Grayling wrote to the Chair of the Transport Committee on the 23rd February 2018 saying that this area “captures over 98% of additional emissions that could occur from expansion”. Teddington TAG asks if this figure of 98% emissions captured within 2 km of the boundary is true. They located air pollution data from the London Assembly, available by Borough. It apportions how much of the NOx in different areas is from vehicles, aviation and other sources. This shows that in Richmond Old Deer Park, according to the Data Apportionment Tool, about 77% of the NOx is from aviation. In Kew / North Sheen, 11km from touch-down, about 57% is from aviation. At Putney, which is under the flight path but is over 15 km from touch-down at Heathrow, about 33% of the NOx is from aviation. Putney is worse off than Kew as total emissions are greater. And all that is just from 2 runways! Aviation apportionment readings stretch back to Clapham Junction and beyond. So why did Grayling tell the Transport Committee that 98% was within 2km. Ignorance of the facts? Failure to be properly informed?
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Air pollution by NOx linked to much greater risk of dementia
Research published in the BMJ indicates there is an increase in the chance of developing dementia. About 131,000 patients in London aged between 50 and 79 were followed for 7 years, with air pollution exposure estimated by post code. People over 50 in areas with the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air showed a 40% greater risk of developing dementia than those with the least NOx pollution, according to data from London. The observational study cannot establish that air pollution was a direct cause of the dementia cases, but the link between higher pollution and higher levels of dementia diagnosis could not be explained by other factors known to raise risks of the disease. Air pollution has already been linked with cardiovascular and respiratory disease, but this is one of the first studies to examine links with neurodegenerative illness. It is possible that perhaps 60,000 of the total 850,000 dementia cases in the UK may be made worse by air pollution. This adds to the body of research on the wide-ranging effects of air pollution, including evidence that particles of pollutants can cross the placenta – an evidence from China of a “huge” reduction in intelligence associated with breathing dirty air, equivalent to losing a year’s education.
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Air pollution particles found in mothers’ placentas
Scientists have found the first evidence that particles of air pollution travel through pregnant women’s lungs and lodge in their placentas. Toxic air is already strongly linked to harm in foetuses but how the damage is done is unknown. The new study, involving mothers living in London, UK, revealed sooty particles in the placentas of each of their babies and researchers say it is quite possible the particles entered the foetuses too. A series of previous studies have shown that air pollution significantly increases the risk of premature birth and of low birth weight, leading to lifelong damage to health. A large study of more than 500,000 births in London, published in December, confirmed the link and led doctors to say that the implications for many millions of women in polluted cities around the world are “something approaching a public health catastrophe”. Scientists are increasingly finding that air pollution results in health problems far beyond the lungs. In August, research revealed that air pollution causes a “huge” reduction in intelligence, while in 2016 toxic nanoparticles from air pollution were discovered in human brains.
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Data shows the NOx produced by Heathrow planes is over double that produced by road vehicles
There is a widely held belief that Heathrow’s NO2 air pollution is largely due to road vehicles, and as long as measures can be taken to reduce these a bit, then a 3rd runway could be allowed. However, research indicates that the aircraft are producing even more NOx than the road vehicles, and there is far less that can be done to cut these emissions. Indeed, if there were to be almost 50% more Heathrow flights, the amount of NOx generated by the aircraft alone would mean a massive increase locally. That is not taking into account all the extra road traffic that would inevitably be generated by a larger Heathrow, including businesses etc that locate near the airport and all their traffic. The 2013 figures from a study for Heathrow, by Ricardo-AEA Ltd show the amount of NOx emitted from planes up to 1000 metres altitude was 2761 tonnes NOx/ year, and 1524 tonnes from aircraft on the ground (ie a total of 4285 tonnes/ year). Also 274 tonnes/year from other airport sources. Then 350 tonnes/year from Heathrow associated trips on main roads in a 11km x 11km area, and 1661 tonnes/ year from non-Heathrow associated traffic in that 11x11km area. (ie. a total of 2011 for all road traffic). So the amount from planes is way over twice the amount from road vehicles. And that ignores the NOx from planes in the wider area, over 1000 metres altitude.