A recent meta-analysis from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health suggests that exposure to fine particle air pollution (PM2.5) may raise the risk of dementia. The study is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to make use of the brand-new Risk of Bias In Non-Randomized Studies of Exposure (ROBINS-E) tool, which goes into greater detail than prior assessment methods for bias in environmental studies. It is also the first to incorporate more recent studies that made use of the “active case ascertainment” technique, which entailed screening the complete study populations before evaluating those who were dementia-free at baseline in person for dementia.
There are already more than 57 million dementia sufferers in the world, and by 2050, that figure is predicted to rise to 153 million. It is estimated that risk factors like exposure to air pollution account for up to 40% of these instances.
“This is a significant step towards providing regulatory bodies and doctors with relevant data to help them understand the current state of the literature on this critically important health problem. The Environmental Protection Agency, which is considering tightening restrictions on PM2.5 exposure, can exploit the findings, according to lead author Marc Weisskopf.Our findings support the value of this indicator for public health.
Even when annual exposure was lower than the current EPA annual threshold of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air (g/m3), the researchers discovered continuous evidence of a relationship between PM2.5 and dementia. The researchers discovered a 17% increase in risk for dementia for every 2 g/m3 increase in average yearly exposure to PM2.5, specifically among the studies using active case ascertainment. Despite the fact that the data was more sparse, they also discovered evidence supporting links between dementia and nitrogen oxide (5% increase in risk for every 10 g/m3 increase in yearly exposure) and nitrogen dioxide (2% increase in risk for every 10 g/m3 increase in annual exposure).
Pollution Research :
The researchers pointed out that other risk variables, such as smoking, have larger estimated associations with dementia risk than does air pollution. Nonetheless, given the number of people that are exposed to air pollution, there could be considerable health repercussions on the population as a whole.
In an interview, Marc Weisskopf, a professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at Harvard stated, “As far as we can determine, the lower you can go, the lesser your danger is.Although people don’t have much control over how much exposure they get to these toxins, he pointed out that authorities have more say in this situation.
The World Health Organization recommends that the average annual PM2.5 level be less than 5 micrograms, however practically the entire world’s population breathes air that is beyond those limits.Even while its estimated effect was smaller than for factors like smoking, particulate matter is still a worrying risk factor for dementia due to the broad scope of pollution exposure, according to Weisskopf.
Other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide may also increase the risk of developing dementia, although these links may not be as strong because there are fewer studies to support them.
Everyone is exposed to this since everyone needs to breathe, according to Weisskopf. The vast number of persons exposed could actually have a significant impact on the population as a whole.
Read more on: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/air-pollution-may-increase-risk-for-dementia/
