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Air pollution may shrink brains increasing dementia and strokes

Scientists at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine have carried out the first study into the relationship between air pollution and alterations in brain structures, which suggests pollution could be a major contributor to mental disability in middle-aged and older people.

According to Science Daily, the team analyzed more than 900 participants who lived in areas of New England and New York. They focused on people living in close proximity to major roads and used satellite imagery to determine levels of exposure.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center website says the subjects were 60 years or older and were free of stroke and dementia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to study the effects on their brains.

The results showed that air pollution caused a reduction in the size of certain areas of the brain and a 46 percent increased risk of covert brain infarcts – a sort of “silent” stroke that comes from a blockage in the blood vessels, which supply the brain.

Sudha Seshadri, MD, a Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and leading researcher in the study said;

“This is concerning since we know that silent strokes increase the risk of overt strokes and of developing dementia, walking problems and depression.”

Elissa H. Wilker, a researcher in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and another leader of the study, stated that;

“Long-term exposure to air pollution showed harmful effects on the brain in this study, even at low levels, particularly with older people and even those who are relatively healthy.”

The researchers found that the average 2 micrograms per cubic meter of fine air particles present in most cities was linked to a 0.32 percent reduction in brain volume, which Wilker said was equivalent to one year of brain aging.

Eastshore Freeway in Berkeley  California

Eastshore Freeway in Berkeley, California
Minesweeper (CC BY-SA 3.0)

“Participants who lived in more polluted areas had the brain volume of someone a year older than participants who lived in less polluted areas,” said Seshadri

The researchers are not entirely sure how air pollution affects the brain in this way, but they believe it is due to inflammation carried through the lungs.

The study is to be published in the May 2015 issue of Stroke.

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