Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Dementia is caused by damage to brain cells. This damage interferes with the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other. When brain cells cannot communicate normally, thinking, behavior and feelings can be affected. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease. Dementia is not. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60-80% of cases. Vascular dementia, which occurs because of microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage in the brain, is the second most common cause of dementia. Those who experience the brain changes of multiple types of dementia simultaneously have mixed dementia. There are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.
Dementia is often incorrectly referred to as “senility” or “senile dementia,” which reflects the formerly widespread but incorrect belief that serious mental decline is a normal part of aging. As per the early research conducted in 2017 in the U.S., which included human and animal test specimens, showed that brain’s aging process gets worsened by air pollution and may increase the risk of dementia.
Senior study author Dr. Pamela Lein, a professor of neurotoxicology at the University of California, Davis, told about their research on how air pollution can lead to possibilities of Dementia, “Our data demonstrated that traffic-related air pollution decreases the time to onset and increases the severity of disease in rats who expressed genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.”
Further, she explained, that it suggests “that differences in exposure histories may contribute to the differing clinical profiles observed in individuals with similar genetic backgrounds.”Additionally, Dr. Lein explained that she and the other researchers behind this study are eager to understand how traffic-related air pollution promotes Alzheimer’s disease characteristics. They also want to learn more about windows of sensitivity.
“Do early life exposures to traffic-related air pollution cause changes in the brain that manifest as [Alzheimer’s disease] phenotypes in old age?” she asked. “Or is it only exposures [in] mid-late life that are critical for increasing risk? Or do you really need chronic exposure across life to see the effects of traffic-related air pollution on the brain?”
The goal of her research, Dr. Lein told is to identify specific environmental factors that are associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. These, after all, are easier to address than genetic risk factors.
There are many different types of dementia. According to the National Institute on Aging, the most common is Alzheimer’s disease. Other types include:
- Lewy body dementia
- frontotemporal dementia
- vascular disorders
- mixed dementia, or a combination of types
Air pollution refers to the release of pollutants into the air that are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole. Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits containing high levels of pollutants, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures. The researchers found that having exposure to chronic traffic-related air pollution accelerated and exacerbated traits relevant to Alzheimer’s disease in the rats who were genetically susceptible to the condition. They also saw the same effect in wild-type rats.
From smog hanging over cities to smoke inside the home, air pollution poses a major threat to health and climate. The combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause about seven million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Unlike the link between air pollution and heart or lung health for which there is a lot of evidence, the effect on the brain and cognitive health is less clear, but it still possesses a higher degree of threat.
