Trial reportAnnals of neurology2015
Ambient air pollution and neurotoxicity on brain structure: Evidence from women's health initiative memory study.
Trial report in Annals of neurology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 135 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
135 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Air pollution: a latent key driving force of dementia.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Lifetime air pollution exposure, cognitive deficits, and brain imaging outcomes: A systematic review.Neurotoxicology · 2023Pooled it
- Air Pollution and Cognitive Impairment across the Life Course in Humans: A Systematic Review with Specific Focus on Income Level of Study Area.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Exposure to Air Pollution in Relation to Risk of Dementia and Related Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature.Environmental health perspectives · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence of dementia in the People's Republic of China from 1985 to 2015: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- Exposure to Environmental and Occupational Particulate Air Pollution as a Potential Contributor to Neurodegeneration and Diabetes: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Environmental risk factors for dementia: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2016Pooled it
- Exposure to air pollution as a potential contributor to cognitive function, cognitive decline, brain imaging, and dementia: A systematic review of epidemiologic research.Neurotoxicology · 2016Pooled it
- A critical review of potential modifiers of air pollutant associations with dementia and related outcomes.Neurotoxicology · 2026Review
- Longitudinal associations between air pollution and adolescent gray matter development: Insights from the ABCD study.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Ambient Air Pollution and the Severity of Alzheimer Disease Neuropathology.JAMA neurology · 2025Article
- Association of tailpipe-related and nontailpipe-related air pollution exposure with neuroimaging outcomes.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Large-scale plasma proteomics uncovers novel targets linking ambient air pollution and depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Pathways to the Brain: Impact of Fine Particulate Matter Components on the Central Nervous System.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Regional variability of the impact of cardiometabolic diseases on incident dementia in United States Medicare beneficiaries.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Brain iron accumulation in neurodegenerative disorders: Does air pollution play a role?Particle and fibre toxicology · 2025Article
- Cumulative risk assessment as the pathway to public health protection for behavioral neurotoxicity.Neurotoxicology · 2025Review
- The impact of particulate matter exposure on global and domain-specific cognitive function: evidence from the Chinese Square Dancer Study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Health impacts of asphalt emissions: Examining neurological risks and the need for long-term exposure mitigation.Journal of hazardous materials · 2025Article
- The Effects of Air Pollution on Neurological Diseases: A Narrative Review on Causes and Mechanisms.Toxics · 2025Review
75 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the putative adverse effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5 : PM with aerodynamic diameters <2.5μm) on brain volumes in older women.
methodsWe conducted a prospective study of 1,403 community-dwelling older women without dementia enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, 1996-1998. Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed at the age of 71-89 years in 2005-2006 to obtain volumetric measures of gray matter (GM) and normal-appearing white matter (WM). Given residential histories and air monitoring data, we used a spatiotemporal model to estimate cumulative PM2.5 exposure in 1999-2006. Multiple linear regression was employed to evaluate the associations between PM2.5 and brain volumes, adjusting for intracranial volumes and potential confounders.
resultsOlder women with greater PM2.5 exposures had significantly smaller WM, but not GM, volumes, independent of geographical region, demographics, socioeconomic status, lifestyles, and clinical characteristics, including cardiovascular risk factors. For each interquartile increment (3.49μg/m(3) ) of cumulative PM2.5 exposure, the average WM volume (WMV; 95% confidence interval) was 6.23cm(3) (3.72-8.74) smaller in the total brain and 4.47cm(3) (2.27-6.67) lower in the association areas, equivalent to 1 to 2 years of brain aging. The adverse PM2.5 effects on smaller WMVs were present in frontal and temporal lobes and corpus callosum (all p values <0.01). Hippocampal volumes did not differ by PM2.5 exposure.
interpretationPM2.5 exposure may contribute to WM loss in older women. Future studies are needed to determine whether exposures result in myelination disturbance, disruption of axonal integrity, damages to oligodendrocytes, or other WM neuropathologies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.