Are we ready to call exposure to air pollution a risk factor for dementia?
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Does exposure to air pollution influence the development of dementia? The possibility that it might rests on 2 overarching theories. The first ties air pollution to dementia through its effects on other conditions, especially cardiovascular disease, stroke, and systematic inflammation. The second, drawn from controlled studies of animals, purports that some pollutants translocate to the brain from the nasal passage through the olfactory tract and wreak havoc upon arrival. All told, air pollution could be pleiotropically neurotoxic, unleashing an array of neuropathologic effects—cerebrovascular, Alzheimer-related, and others—that fuel dementia risk.
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© 2020 American Academy of Neurology.
Publication History
Published online: April 8, 2020
Published in issue: April 28, 2020
Disclosure
Dr. Weuve is funded by NIH-NIA grants R13AG064971, U54NS115266, R01AG062348, RF1AG057532, and R01AG051635, and NIH-NIEHS grants R01ES028694 and R01ES024749. She also serves on the Health Effects Institute's advisory panel of Traffic-Related Health Effects and serves as a consultant for the Alzheimer's Association. Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures.
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Cited By
- Air Pollution: A Neglected Risk Factor for Dementia in Latin America and the Caribbean, Frontiers in Neurology, 12, (2021).https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.684524
- Stroke and dementia, leading causes of neurological disability and death, potential for prevention, Alzheimer's & Dementia, 17, 6, (1072-1076), (2021).https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12340
- Exploration of the Global Burden of Dementia Attributable to PM2.5: What Do We Know Based on Current Evidence?, GeoHealth, 5, 5, (2021).https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GH000356
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