Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 12:12:1475459.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1475459. eCollection 2024.

Effects of volcanic eruptions on the mental health of exposed populations: a systematic review

Danae A Mendoza  1 , José M Reales  2 , Soledad Ballesteros  3
Affiliations

Effects of volcanic eruptions on the mental health of exposed populations: a systematic review

Danae A Mendoza et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: Millions of people living in volcanic environments are at risk of experiencing volcanic eruptions, a natural disaster. This systematic review aimed to collect empirical evidence of the effects of volcanic eruptions on the mental health of the exposed populations.

Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we conducted systematic searches on Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline, and Web of Science (WoS) databases.

Results: A total of 17,044 articles were screened. Of these, 24 articles met the inclusion criteria and data were extracted. Twenty-one articles investigated psychological disorders, two articles studied emotions and their relationships with certain environmental factors, and one article explored cognitive functions in the exposed populations. These studies showed that highly exposed populations were more vulnerable to develop long-lasting psychological disorders than less exposed populations.

Conclusion: The negative influence of experiencing volcanic activity on mental health was confirmed. Clearly, there is a need for more research to improve the mental health of the populations highly exposed to volcanic eruptions. Recommendations for future research are also included.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); stress; volcanic eruption; volcano.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flowchart diagram of the search strategy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Siebert L, Simkin T, Kimberly P. Volcanoes of the world. Third Edition. (2011). University of California Press, 1–551.
    1. Smithsonian Institution . Global volcanism program | what volcanoes have the most people living nearby? Global volcanism program [internet]. (2024). Available at: https://volcano.si.edu/faq/index.cfm?question=population
    1. Žuškin E, Mustajbegović J, Jelinić JD, Pucarin-Cvetković J, Milošević M. Učinci vulkanskih erupcija na okoliš i zdravlje. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol. (2007) 58:479–86. doi: 10.2478/v10004-007-0041-3, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Horwell C, Baxter J. The respiratory health hazards of volcanic ash: a review for volcanic risk mitigation. Bull Volcanol. (2006) 69:1–24. doi: 10.1007/s00445-006-0052-y - DOI
    1. Cashman K, Rust A. Volcanic ash: generation and spatial variations In: Volcanic ash hazard observation [internet] (2016). 5–22. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com:5070/book/9780081004050/volcanic-ash

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources