The Relationship between Air Pollution and Autism

Abstract

With this study; It was aimed to investigate the link between air pollution and autism. It is a scientific fact that air pollution has negative effects on the health of living things. It affects human health in many ways, from cardiovascular diseases to lung diseases, from psychological disorders to cancer. Although people themselves are affected by the polluted air they breathe, babies who are still in the womb can also get diseases caused by this pollution. One of them is autism spectrum disorder (ASD). According to the researches, Turkey is the 6th most polluted country among the other countries in the European region, and the PM2.5 uq/m³ density, which is among the air pollutants, was 18.7 uq/m³ in 2020, while this rate increased to 3.74% in 2021. It was observed that it was measured as 20.0 uq/m³ with an increase. Among the 15 most polluted cities in the European region, Iğdır province was seen to be in the first place with a density of 66.2 μg/m³, and it was understood that Iğdır province breathed 13.24 μg/m³ times more polluted air according to WHO standards (maximum 5 μg/m³). While 1 out of 2,500 children was born with autism in the USA in 1970, there has been a rapid acceleration over the years and this rate has increased to 1 in 44 children for 2021. The rate of increase in the number of children with autism from 1970 to 2021 in the USA is 5,680%. The research revealed that there is a link between air pollution and OSB.