In recent years, the connection between Alzheimer's Disease and the environment has been growing ever-stronger. The world around us has become far more dangerous than it used to thanks to industry and the use of noxious gasses and chemicals in many of our activities. However, air pollution has become a big problem in recent years for environmental studies and it has been shown to have caused an increase in the risk of ailments such as strokes to occur.
A study carried out in the May edition of popular magazine Stroke used 943 males and females over the age of 60 who had participated in a previous, wider, health study. Carrying out MRI examinations on each patient, as well as discovering their living proximity to large roads and highways, the group also used satellite information to measure matter which was smaller than 2.5micrometers (PM2.5) - small enough to enter the blood and the lungs.
As well as looking into lifestyle, profession and overall health condition, it was found that those who were exposed to the lowest of PM 2.5 levels had a significantly smaller chance to deal with covert brain infarcts. These are more commonly known as silent strokes, and are 46% more likely for those in the study who were around PM 2.5 particles on a regular basis. However, more importantly for Alzheimer's sufferers, a correlation was made between PM 2.5 - for every 2 micrograms per cubic meter - and brain aging. In fact, brain reductions were noted to be the equivalent of around a whole year of natural aging.
These large scale changes are becoming a significant problem for environmentalists and those involved with illnesses such as Alzheimer's. However, noted individuals have praised the time and funding used to conduct studies on these problems to find the most common causes. Now, there is a clear connection between air pollution and what could be considered unnatural brain aging. Now, there can be deeper studies into correcting this problem.
Noted author, also a member of the research team at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, stated that "This helps us to better understand the mechanisms related to air pollution and clinically observed outcomes."
