Older women who live in locations with higher levels of air pollution may have more brain shrinkage — the kind seen in Alzheimer’s disease — than women who live in locations with lower levels, according to a new study.
The study looked at fine particle pollution and found that breathing in high levels of this kind of air pollution was linked to shrinkage in the areas of the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease. Fine particle pollution consists of microscopic particles of chemicals, smoke, dust and other pollutants that are 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
The five-year study involved 712 women with an average age of 78 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. The women who were exposed to higher levels of air pollution had an increased risk of brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease over the span of the study.
“Our research suggests these toxins may disrupt brain structure or connections in the brain’s nerve cell network, contributing to the progression toward the disease,” said study author Diana Younan, Ph.D., of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“Our findings have important public health implications, because not only did we find brain shrinkage in women exposed to higher levels of air pollution, we also found it in women exposed to air pollution levels lower than those the EPA considers safe.”
Source: Newswise November 18, 2020