The impact of pollution on mental health: A narrative review

Background and Aim: Pollution is increasingly recognized as a major global health determinant, with growing evidence linking environmental contaminants to neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite extensive re-search, the impact of pollution on mental health remains underexplored, particularly regarding the neurobio-logical and psychosocial pathways involved. This narrative review aims to synthesize current evidence on how environmental pollutants, chemical, physical, and psychosocial, affect the central nervous system and con-tribute to psychiatric morbidity. Methods: A comprehensive narrative review was conducted using PubMed and Embase, focusing on studies from 2000 to 2024. Keywords included “pollution,” “psychiatric disorders,” “neurotoxicity,” and “psychological distress.” Peer-reviewed articles reporting on epidemiological, mechanis-tic, and neurobiological findings were included. Studies focusing solely on general environmental exposure without neuropsychiatric relevance were excluded. Results: Findings demonstrate that air pollutants such as PM2.5, NO2, heavy metals, and persistent organic compounds contribute to cognitive impairment, depres-sion, anxiety, and neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Mechanisms include oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier disruption, mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine dysregulation, and epigenetic changes. Psychosocial stressors linked to urban environments, media saturation, and perceived environmental degradation further exacerbate mental health outcomes. Syndromes like sick building syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, and solastalgia emerge as stress-related manifestations. This narrative review critically examines the methodological limitations and evidence strength of current studies, highlighting key gaps and future research directions. Conclusions: Pollution-induced neuropsychiatric effects are multifactorial, involving complex interactions between environmental, biological, and psychological fac-tors. A biopsychosocial framework is essential to understand these effects and to guide interdisciplinary pre-vention strategies. Addressing pollution as a mental health risk factor requires urgent public health action and integration of environmental policies with psychiatric care. (www.actabiomedica.it)