It’s a given that we associate higher exposure to wildfire smoke with decreased lung health. But a new study, for the first time, links breathing in fine particulate air pollution (labelled by public health scientists as PM2.5) to mental health issues as well.
The study published in JAMA Network Open connected increased exposure to wildfire smoke with a spike in visits to emergency departments for mental health conditions.
“Wildfire smoke isn’t just a respiratory issue — it affects mental health, too,” Kari Nadeau, a researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author of the paper, said in a press release. “Our study suggests that — in addition to the trauma a wildfire can induce — smoke itself may play a direct role in worsening mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and mood disorders.”
