Are cities bad for your mental health?

A study was conducted using data from the Health and Lifestyle Survey, a population based community survey of England, Wales and Scotland in which psychiatric morbidity was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire. An association was found between urban residence and the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity (odds ratio 1.54, 95% CI 1.32-1.80) which persisted after adjustment for various confounding factors (odds ratio 1.34, 95% CI 1.13-1.58). The discussion mentions the need for further study into the psychologically harmful elements of urban life.