Towards a Better Understanding of Particulate Air Pollution and Dementia Risk

There is evidence for particulate air pollution to raise the risk of age-related diseases via mechanisms such as increased levels of chronic inflammation. While the burden of age-related disease varies widely from region to region, establishing the relative weight of specific contributions is a challenge. Poverty, particulate air pollution, high rates of chronic infection, and other environmental factors thought likely to lead to a greater risk of age-related disease all tend to overlap to some degree. Thus while there are plausible mechanisms for particulate air pollution to spur chronic inflammation and thus speed the onset of age-related disease, and these mechanisms are well-demonstrated in laboratory animals, one cannot rule out the possibility that it is nonetheless the case that much of the observed differences in life expectancy and incidence of age-related conditions in human populations are primarily a result of worse access to medical resources. Or differences in culture that lead to differing levels of physical activity or differences in diet that add up over time. And so forth. That said, some of the more recent epidemiological research on this topic uses comparison populations that allow for the elimination of most of the uncertainties. The results strongly suggest that exposure to wood smoke or exposure to coal smoke accelerates cardiovascular disease and reduces life expectancy. It isn't just cardiovascular disease: all of the more common age-rel...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs