<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to air pollution is associated with an increased risk for neurological disorders in older adults, according to a study published online Oct. 19 in The Lancet Planetary Health<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Liuhua Shi, Sc.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues investigated the effect of long-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5<\/sub>) exposure on development of Parkinson disease or Alzheimer disease and related dementias using data from 63,038,019 fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries (aged \u226565 years; 2000 to 2016). PM2.5<\/sub> by ZIP code concentration was calculated based on mean annual predictions.<\/p>\n The researchers identified 1.0 million cases of Parkinson disease and 3.4 million cases of Alzheimer disease and related dementias based on billing codes. For each 5 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3 increase in annual PM2.5<\/sub> concentrations, there was a higher risk for first hospital admission for Parkinson disease (hazard ratio, 1.13) and for first admission for Alzheimer disease and related dementias (hazard ratio, 1.13). There was a linear relationship for PM2.5<\/sub> concentrations less than 16 \u00b5g\/m\u00b3, followed by a plateau with increasingly larger confidence bands.<\/p>\n “For the aging American population, improving air quality to reduce PM2.5<\/sub> concentrations to less than current national standards could yield substantial health benefits by reducing the burden of neurological disorders,” the authors write.<\/p>\n