A new research adds to the growing body of evidence that higher exposure to air pollution may affect mental health later in life.
In a study of women aged 80 years and older, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, living in locations with higher exposure to air pollution was associated with increased depressive symptoms.
“This is the first study showing how air pollution exposures affect depressive symptoms as well as the interrelationship between the symptoms and subsequent memory decline that had not been found in older people aged less than 80 years.”Andrew Petkus, study lead, University of Southern California in the US .