The possible links between dementia and exposure to air pollution during childhood intrigue researchers. The hypothesis that pollution could influence brain health emerged about 20 years ago, when a study of dogs living in the heavily polluted Mexico City revealed alterations in their brains.
In 2022, a British scientific committee analyzed 69 studies and concluded that air pollution could accelerate cognitive decline in older people and increase the risk of dementia. Research has also shown effects on the brains of children exposed to polluted air.
Air pollution: the French worried, but missing the point
Otto-Emil Jutila, researcher at the University of Edinburgh and lead author of the study, explains today in the columns of
Guardian
that “although the link between pollution and the risk of dementia in old age has been widely explored, the impact of pollution on brain health over the lifespan remains little known”.
In 2004, more than 1,000 participants, all born in 1936 and raised around Edinburgh, were included in a study into brain aging. From the age of 70, their health status was examined at regular three-year intervals. The first case of dementia in this group was diagnosed in
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Source LePoint.fr
Health
