These results could indicate that the risks of dementia are lower for people in certain professions, but the researchers point out that nothing is certain.
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According to a new study, taxi and ambulance drivers have a mortality rate linked to Alzheimer’s disease lower than that of hundreds of other occupations, showing that there is a potential link between memory-intensive jobs and dementia risk.
These drivers must quickly memorize entire street networksand previous research in the United Kingdom indicates that London taxi drivers exhibit functional changes in the hippocampus over decades spent navigating the city.
The hippocampus is used for spatial memory and navigation, and it is also one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by brain disease.‘Alzheimerthe most common form of dementia.
For this new study, published in The BMJ, researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed death rates from Alzheimer’s disease for nearly 9 million people who died in the United States between 2020 and 2022.
They considered 443 occupations, but focused on bus drivers, airplane pilots and ship captains in order to compare taxi and ambulance drivers with other transport sector jobs that do not require the same degree of memory-intensive navigation skills.
Browsing tasks could offer protection
In the general population, 1.69% of deaths were linked to Alzheimer’s diseasewhich is much higher than the rate of 1,03 % for taxi drivers and chauffeurs, and 0,91 % for paramedics.
Furthermore, death rates from Alzheimer’s disease for other public transportation jobs ranged from 1.65% (bus drivers) to 2.34% (airplane pilots), after adjustment by researchers based on age at death, gender, race and ethnicity, and education level.
“Our findings raise the possibility that frequent navigation and spatial processing tasks, such as those performed by taxi and ambulance drivers, may be associated with some protection against Alzheimer’s disease,” the authors said. of the study.
Dr. Anupam B. Jena, a professor at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study, told Euronews Health that people should not stop using their GPS system while driving to stimulate their brain.
“The use of this part of the brain in taxi drivers happens over decades and in a very particular and intense way – minute to minute processing of navigation and space on the fly,” said Anupam B. Jena.
The authors of the study, however, specify that study does not prove causality. It is also possible that people who are better at navigation and processing geographic information are more likely to become taxi or ambulance drivers, meaning they could be at less risk of Alzheimer’s disease. whatever their job.
Angela Bradshaw, director of research at Alzheimer Europe, told Euronews Health that the researchers were right to be cautious, but that the cognitive training required for “frequent spatial and navigation processing” could help reduce the risk of dementia.
“A number of studies show that cognitive stimulation can be beneficial,” Ms. Bradshaw said, citing a 2023 Australian study that found participating in brain-stimulating activities, such as taking classes, writing letters or doing crosswords, was associated with a lower risk of dementia over a period of 10 years.
Limitations of the study
However, she noted that other factors make it difficult “to establish a direct link between occupation, the skills needed to perform a particular job and the risk of death from illness.” Alzheimer’s.”
Independent researchers have highlighted some of these factors, including the fact that taxi and ambulance drivers participating in the study died on average between the ages of 64 and 67while Alzheimer’s disease generally begins after the age of 65.
ADVERTISEMENTAdditionally, few of the drivers were women, who are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than men, and the analysis did not take into account genetics or scans that could show changes in the brain resulting of their work.
Further research would be needed to determine whether the mental strain associated with driving taxis and ambulances can actually protect against dementiasaid the study authors.
Despite these limitations, the findings “underscore the need for more fundamental research on how to protect our brains from Alzheimer’s disease,” Tara Spires-Jones, a dementia researcher and president of the Institute, said in a statement. British Neuroscience Association.
Next to 8 million people in the European Union are affected by dementiathe disease ofAlzheimer probably representing more than half of the casesaccording to Alzheimer Europe.
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