Significant link found between air pollution and neurological disorders

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/htcs-slf101620.php

News Release 19-Oct-2020
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Air pollution was significantly associated with an increased risk of hospital admissions for several neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other dementias, in a long-term study of more than 63 million older U.S. adults, led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.


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Researchers looked at 17 years' worth (2000-2016) of hospital admissions data from 63,038,019 Medicare recipients in the U.S. and linked these with estimated PM2.5 concentrations by zip code. Taking into account potential confounding factors like socioeconomic status, they found that, for each 5 microgram per cubic meter of air (μg/m3) increase in annual PM2.5 concentrations, there was a 13% increased risk for first-time hospital admissions both for Parkinson's disease and for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. This risk remained elevated even below supposedly safe levels of PM2.5 exposure, which, according to current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, is an annual average of 12 μg/m3 or less.

Women, white people, and urban populations were particularly susceptible, the study found. The highest risk for first-time Parkinson's disease hospital admissions was among older adults in the northeastern U.S. For first-time Alzheimer's disease and related dementias hospital admissions, older adults in the Midwest faced the highest risk.

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