WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study suggests that childhood exposure to leaded gasoline has significantly impacted the mental health balance within the U.S. population.
The study, published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, estimates that approximately 151 million mental disorder diagnoses in the U.S. can be attributed to lead exposure.
According to coauthor of the study Dr. Aaron Reuben, assistant professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University of Virginia, this exposure likely would not have occurred if lead had not been added to gasoline.
'We've shifted the curve in the population for mental health problems, so that everyone has a greater liability in the mental illness symptoms, and that some people who were already at risk are going to develop diagnosable disorders sooner, more often or more kinds,' said Reuben.
More than half of the current US population was exposed to adverse lead levels in childhood as a result of lead's past use in gasoline. The total contribution of childhood lead exposures to US-population mental health and personality has yet to be evaluated.
The study estimates that by 2015, exposure to leaded gasoline had contributed to a total increase of 602 million General Psychopathology factor points in the U.S. population. This reflects a 0.13 standard deviation rise in the overall liability to mental illness and accounts for approximately 151 million excess mental disorder cases attributable to lead exposure.
The study concludes that lead's potential impact on psychiatry, medicine, and children's health may be significantly greater than previously understood.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
