September 15, 2026

expert reaction to air pollutants linked to higher risk of suicide

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health looks at environmental exposure to air pollutants and risk of suicide. 

Dr Jon Van Niekerk, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ General Adult Faculty, said:

“This is a useful systematic review of an emerging area of research and adds to evidence suggesting that exposure to some forms of air pollution may be associated with a small increase in suicidal behaviour at population level. However, it is important to be mindful that most of the underlying evidence is observational and so this study cannot establish that air pollution itself, causes suicidal thoughts or attempts.

Air pollution is closely associated with other factors which we know can influence mental health, including socioeconomic deprivation, urban living, physical health and housing. Although individual studies attempt to adjust for some of these factors, the findings may still be influenced by them.

Additionally, this research should be interpreted with caution as there is considerable variation between the studies in how pollution exposure and suicidal behaviour were measured.

The study provides further population-level support for reducing harmful air pollution, though the findings should not be seen as supporting individual suicide-risk prediction or suggesting that pollution reduction alone could be a suicide-prevention measure.”

Dr Stephen Burgess, Professor of Biostatistics, University of Cambridge, said:

“This study confuses two fundamentally different concepts: causation and association. In places, the study acknowledges that it is examining associations between environmental exposures and suicide risk. But elsewhere, it treats these associations as having a causal basis – for instance, researchers talk about the importance of “pollution reduction strategies”. Such strategies are only relevant if the factors are causes of increased suicide. If they are simply indicators of increased risk, then changing these factors will make no difference to suicide rates. There are other related factors that could be the underlying causes of the associations that the researchers observe, such as living in an urban environment.

There are many other factors that could potentially explain the associations observed. For example, areas with higher levels of pollution may differ in other ways that affect suicide risk, such as their socioeconomic or urban environment. Although the studies included in this review account for some of these factors, it is difficult to claim that these factors have been adequately accounted for. A causal conclusion is only reasonable when there is a like-with-like comparison, and there are many additional factors here that are likely to differ between those exposed to low and high levels of pollution.

This research finds factors that are associated with increased suicide risk, but further research is needed to claim that the factors identified are causes of increased risk.”

Dr Rosie Cornish, Senior Research Fellow, Epidemiology and Health Data Science, University of Bristol, said:

“The authors found positive associations between some air pollutants and risk of death by suicide, attempted suicide and suicidal thoughts and conclude that reducing pollution “could play a vital role in reducing suicide risk”. However, there are many factors that are associated with higher levels of air pollution as well as increased risk of suicide that could potentially explain these observed associations. These include socio-economic deprivation, availability of green space, housing quality, lifestyle factors associated with urban vs rural living, and so on. If air pollution is not actually a cause of increased risk of suicide then reducing pollution will not help to prevent suicide. The authors do not acknowledge this when drawing their conclusions.”

‘Environmental exposure and risk of death by suicide, attempted suicide and suicide ideation: a systematic review and meta-analysis’ by Sophie Marie Jones et al. was published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health at 23:30 UK time on Tuesday 15th September. 

DOI: 10.1136/jech-2025-225491

Declared interests

Dr Jon Van Niekerk: “Jon has confirmed he has no interests to declare.”

Dr Stephen Burgess: “I have no relevant conflict of interest to declare.”

Dr Rosie Cornish: “No conflict of interest.”