▶ Up to 1.6 years delay in dementia when improved
▶ If pollution is reduced by 10%, the risk is 26%↓
Improving air pollution has been shown to lower the risk of dementia among older people.
In two research reports published this year by researchers from six universities and the National Institute of Aging under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the analysis found that long-term improvement in ambient air quality reduces the risk of dementia in the elderly. In the past 10 years, many studies have confirmed that air pollution lowers cognitive function and causes dementia in the elderly, but there was no evidence before this study to assert that improving air quality reduces the risk of dementia.
According to a paper presented at the National Academy of Sciences conference in the United States, women over the age of 75 who lived in an area where fine particle pollution and nitrogen dioxide (caused by automobile exhaust, industrial activity, and natural disasters, such as wildfires) pollution for 10 years decreased the risk of dementia. appeared to decrease significantly. Also, lower levels of pollutants slowed the rate of cognitive decline, which was delayed by up to 1.6 years as air quality improved.
A nationwide study on air quality improvement and cognitive decline among elderly women was conducted on more than 2,200 women 74 years and older. The researchers found that cognitive decline was related not only to air pollution, but also to lifestyles such as socioeconomic status, neighborhood characteristics, health status, and smoking.
The claim that polluted air promotes the production of toxic proteins in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, has already been proven in research conducted by cardiovascular organizations around the world, including the American Heart Association. The Alzheimer’s Association found that reducing air pollution by 10% might lower the risk of dementia by up to 26%. For every 1 microgram (microgram) reduction in air pollution per cubic meter of air, the risk of dementia is reduced by 15% and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is reduced by 17%.
Last year, researchers at the USC School of Medicine published the results of a study that followed more than 2,200 women aged 74 to 92 years without dementia who were enrolled in a long-term study of brain health. The participants’ thinking ability, reasoning ability, and memory were tracked as they got older, and the results were compared and analyzed with air quality in various communities. They found that for every 10% improvement in air quality in the neighborhood, women’s risk of dementia was reduced by up to 26%. The researchers found that a reduction in particulate pollution and smog over a 10-year period was associated with a reduced risk of dementia in women.
Ha Eun-sun reporter>
