What is it about?
We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study (2000 to 2017) to investigate the impact of long-term exposure to PM2.5 constituents on incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. We integrated the Medicare Chronic Conditions Warehouse database and two independently sourced datasets of high-resolution PM2.5 major chemical composition.
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Why is it important?
Identifying the culprits of PM2.5 constituents that are most responsible for elevated risks of neurodegeneration is of paramount importance. Our findings show that long-term exposure to PM2.5 mass and major constituents, particularly from traffic and fossil fuel combustion sources, is significantly associated with elevated dementia or AD incidence. All constituents had largely linear concentration–response relationships at low concentrations for both end points, implying no safe level of air pollution for brain health. Using two independent exposure datasets allows us to examine the robustness of findings and thus strengthen the credibility of the evidence for the associations. Our results will facilitate targeted source-specific pollution control strategies.
Perspectives
To better inform policy for targeted source-specific regulations, it is important to investigate the relative contributions of various PM2.5 components to the neurological conditions. Our findings show that long-term exposure to PM2.5 constituents, particularly from traffic and fossil fuel combustion sources, might drive the association with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Liuhua Shi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Incident dementia and long-term exposure to constituents of fine particle air pollution: A national cohort study in the United States, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2211282119.
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