the journal Stroke<\/a>, focuses on a link between low levels of air pollutants across several major Canadian cities, and preclinical cognitive outcomes. <\/p>\nIt found that people who live in regions that have more air pollution faired worse on cognitive tests that looked at memory, understanding and mental speed. <\/p>\n
Lead author Sandi Azab said that while it\u2019s known that air pollution is a risk factor for dementia, the research team wanted to examine a different angle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur motivation was to test in a very low setting of air pollutants, such as Canada,\u201d she told CTV News. \u201cIs there a link between common pollutants at these low levels and what we call preclinical outcomes, or very subtle measures of cognitive function?\u201d<\/p>\n
The study analyzed data from around 7,000 adults from Hamilton, London, Ont., Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax, between the ages of 32 and 81, with the medium age of 57.6.<\/p>\n
The researchers linked air pollutants for an average of 5 years to where the participants lived. Throughout a four year window, they tested their cognitive functions, using routine tests on brain performance. They also looked at \u201csilent\u201d changes to the brain using MRI \u2013 subtle damage to the brain that\u2019s not necessarily symptomatic.<\/p>\n
They found that two major pollutants \u2013 fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide \u2013 were associated with lower scores of brain function on two different brain tests. One measured things like memory, recall and language, while the other was a non-language-specific test that measured processing speed \u2013 how fast the brain works.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found statistically significant, subtle yet important lower scores on these two tests associated with exposures to the two pollutants,\u201d Azab said.<\/p>\n
Those who were exposed to higher levels of pollutants, scored slightly lower than those who were exposed to lower levels.<\/p>\n
The researchers also wanted to translate what that would look like in terms of aging. They found that every five-microgram per cubic meter increase of exposure to PM2.5 was associated with lower scores similar to about two to 12 years of aging.<\/p>\n
Tougher environmental and clinical regulations could help<\/p>\n
Azab said she hopes the findings will have an encouraging message, rather than a discouraging one. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very fortunate that we are living in Canada with very clean air, relatively,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think there are disparities or differences between the different cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said tighter regulations on pollutants from a policy level, as well as more targeted screenings on a clinical level could be beneficial to Canadians.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we know that there are certain populations at a higher cardiovascular risk, so these could benefit from an assessment of their air pollution exposure,\u201d she said \u201cThere are some studies recommending that, and mostly at the primary care level, no one asks the patient about your air pollution exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, Abaz said to further reduce exposure to pollutants, it\u2019s important to stay inside when there is wildfire smoke in the atmosphere \u2013 a main source of PM2.5 \u2013 and for vulnerable populations to reduce their risk of exposure by wearing a tight fitted mask outside on days of poor air quality. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sandi Azab, lead author on study that links air pollution to poorer brain function. While Canada is considered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[712,49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-689039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}