Climate change and emerging environmental pollutants are increasingly recognized as critical determinants of mental health worldwide. Rapid urbanization, rising ambient temperatures, and extreme weather events have been associated with elevated risks of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and other neuropsychiatric outcomes. At the same time, exposure to emerging pollutants, including microplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), endocrine-disrupting chemicals, artificial light at night (ALAN), and novel airborne contaminants, may adversely affect brain and mental health through pathways involving neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, endocrine disruption, circadian dysregulation, and alterations in brain structure or functional connectivity. Although growing evidence supports the independent effects of climate-related stressors and pollutant exposures on mental health, their combined and interactive impacts remain insufficiently understood. This Research Topic aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for advancing research on environmental determinants of mental health, with particular attention to depression, sleep disorders, vulnerable populations, neurobiological mechanisms, and neuroimaging evidence.
This Research Topic aims to address the growing but fragmented evidence regarding the impacts of climate change and emerging pollutant exposures on mental health outcomes. Although substantial progress has been made in environmental epidemiology and psychiatric research, important gaps remain in understanding the combined, cumulative, and interactive effects of climate related stressors and novel environmental contaminants on depression, sleep disorders, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and other neuropsychiatric conditions. In particular, the biological mechanisms linking environmental exposures to mental health, including neuroinflammation, endocrine disruption, circadian rhythm disturbances, and neuroimaging identified alterations in brain structure and functional connectivity, require further investigation. To advance this field, this Research Topic seeks interdisciplinary contributions integrating epidemiology, psychiatry, neuroscience, exposure science, environmental health, sleep medicine, and neuroimaging research. We welcome original studies, systematic reviews, and meta analyses exploring exposure assessment, exposome approaches, vulnerable populations, mechanistic pathways, and potential intervention or policy strategies aimed at mitigating environmental risks to mental health.
This Research Topic focuses on the relationships between climate change, emerging pollutant exposures, and mental health across the lifespan. We welcome studies investigating the mental health impacts of climate related environmental stressors, including extreme temperatures, heat waves, urbanization, wildfires, and artificial light at night, as well as emerging pollutants such as microplastics, PFAS, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and novel airborne contaminants. Particular interest will be given to research addressing depression, sleep disorders, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and other neuropsychiatric outcomes, especially among vulnerable populations. Relevant topics include exposome based assessments, environmental epidemiology, neuroimaging findings, circadian disruption, neuroinflammation, biological mechanisms, longitudinal cohort studies, and public health interventions or policies related to environmental mental health. We welcome original research articles, systematic reviews, and meta analyses from interdisciplinary fields including psychiatry, neuroscience, environmental health, and sleep medicine.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Brief Research Report
- Clinical Trial
- Community Case Study
- Conceptual Analysis
- Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
- Data Report
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Keywords: Climate Change, Emerging Pollutants, Mental Health, Depression, Sleep Disorders, Environmental Epidemiology
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
