Pollution and Schizophrenia
2020-01-07 21:15:26.882892+00 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Air pollution in childhood linked to schizophrenia
The study shows that the higher the level of air pollution, the higher the risk of schizophrenia. For each 10 μg/m3 (concentration of air pollution per cubic metre) increase in the daily average, the risk of schizophrenia increases by approximately twenty per cent. Children who are exposed to an average daily level above 25 μg/m3 have an approx. sixty per cent greater risk of developing schizophrenia compared to those who are exposed to less than 10 μg/m3," explains Senior Researcher Henriette Thisted Horsdal, who is behind the study.
To put these figures into perspective, the lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is approximately two per cent, which equates to two out of a hundred people developing schizophrenia during their life. For people exposed to the lowest level of air pollution, the lifetime risk is just under two per cent, while the lifetime risk for those exposed to the highest level of air pollution is approx. three per cent.
That 2% to 3% absolute risk number seems kinda huge. When I went looking for the original paper, I found so many different papers suggesting similar things, but this one looks like Association of Childhood Exposure to Nitrogen Dioxide and Polygenic Risk Score for Schizophrenia With the Risk of Developing Schizophrenia, JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(11):e1914401. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.14401