Air pollution may increase risk of dementia - KOLO
Air pollution may increase risk of dementia
RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - A recent study has found that long-term exposure to certain kinds of air pollution could put you at higher risk for dementia.
Dementia is a loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning skills and is not a normal part of aging. Millions of people, along with their families and caregivers, are living with the effects of dementia. This number is expected to continue to grow as the population ages.
The researchers estimated pollution exposures for the participants using models that included real-time pollution measurements and aspects of the region in which they lived like geography, land use, and local emissions sources. They also considered other factors that can influence dementia risk. These included age, sex, race, education, and household wealth. In addition, they estimated how other airborne pollutants, such as ozone, might affect the results. Doctor Charles Bernicc, a neurologist with the Lou Ruvo Center, says researchers looked at nine different emission sources. Two of which, we see a lot of in Northern Nevada.
“It turns out the type of pollution most associated with the development of dementia was from wildfires and agriculture,” Bernicc explains.
The study reviewed data from nearly 28-thousand adults who are 50 and older over a ten-year span. Ultimately, they found 15-percent developed dementia. If pollution exposure from fires is a direct cause, researchers estimated that it could result in as many as 188,000 cases of dementia per year.
“What it brings to light is the fact that these environmental exposures that we have are not innocuous,” said Bernicc.
Bernicc points out that air pollution is just one factor. However, because of the number of people exposed to air pollution, the population-level health implications could be substantial.
“It may be that people that are exposed to traffic pollution may be more inner city individuals and may have lower economic status and may not take care of their health as well. So there’s a number factors that you have to consider when looking at one environmental exposure,” Bernicc said.
Further study is needed to better understand if reducing specific types pollution would help lower the burden of dementia in the population.
Copyright 2023 KOLO. All rights reserved.
Related Knowledge Center: Air emissions
More than 30 years after the last major update of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has upended the ability of Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies broad scope to combat air pollution, including the emission of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, further Biden administration efforts to limit emissions face opposition in the courts.