New research by University of Southern California
presented today (Sunday 14th July) at Alzheimer’s Association
International Conference (AAIC) indicates that cognitive reserve
in women may affect the relationship between exposure to outdoor
air pollution and risk of Alzheimer’s.
The study looked at a population of women aged 65 to
79 years, who did not have dementia at the time of enrolment,
over the course of 14 years.
The study confirmed that living in locations with
high air pollution increased the risk for Alzheimer’s and other
dementias. Importantly, older women with higher cognitive reserve
only showed a 21% increased risk due to living in polluted
locations compared with a 113% increased environmental risk for
those with lower cognitive reserve.
Alzheimer’s Society has created a report on air
pollution and dementia, which is available at the following
link:https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/airpollution
Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and
Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society,
says: “We know that women living with dementia
outnumber men two to one across the globe, but we still don’t
fully know why this is the case. This study points the finger of
blame at a specific type of air pollution particle, thought to
contribute to the development of numerous heart and lung diseases
as well as potentially dementia. But before we all start
evacuating cities, this link was only found in a small group of
women, particularly those who were less educated.
“The theory goes that those – men and women – who
attended higher education have greater amounts
of cognitive reserve. If dementia sets in, and
brain cells start to die, the idea is that they are capable of
compensating for the loss of brain cells up to a point, meaning
that the process of decline will take longer.
“Our own report into the subject found that air
pollution induces heart damage, thereby indirectly raising
dementia risk, but there is still more research needed in this
area.”
