Air Pollution, Cardiovascular Disease, and Dementia

This study makes a major contribution to scientific knowledge about the associations of air pollution with dementia risk. The findings of mediation or effect measures modifying the roles of cardiovascular disease (CVD) not onl y provide mechanistic insights and identify more vulnerable populations, but will also have public health implications concerning the potential effectiveness of intervening on CVD to improve dementia risk among adults with high exposure. The study was well conducted. However, we have some concerns r egarding the validity of the claims that CVD is a mediator because of (1) the selection of confounders, (2) the nonlinear association between exposure and outcome, and (3) the presence of an interaction between the exposure and the mediator.
Source: JAMA Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research