ArticleJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2021
Life Course Air Pollution Exposure and Cognitive Decline: Modelled Historical Air Pollution Data and the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936.
Article in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Is memory in older adulthood influenced by changes in air pollution over the previous decade?: Examining concurrent trajectories in ambient PMEnvironmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- Air pollution and Alzheimer's disease prevention: The science and a prevention plan.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Review
- Development of Life Course Exposure Estimates Using Geospatial Data and Residence History.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Life-course exposure to air pollution and the risk of dementia in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Association of Tailpipe-Related and Nontailpipe-Related Air Pollution Exposure with Cognitive Decline in the Chicago Health and Aging Project.Environmental health perspectives · 2024Article
- Exposure to source-specific air pollution in residential areas and its association with dementia incidence: a cohort study in Northern Sweden.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The longitudinal associations between ambient air pollution exposure and dementia in the UK: results from the cognitive function and ageing study II and Wales.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Neighbourhood deprivation across eight decades and late-life cognitive function in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936: a life-course study.Age and ageing · 2023Article
- PM2.5 and Dementia in a Low Exposure Setting: The Influence of Odor Identification Ability and APOE.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Article
- Sleep matters: Neurodegeneration spectrum heterogeneity, combustion and friction ultrafine particles, industrial nanoparticle pollution, and sleep disorders-Denial is not an option.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Review
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- Exploring the Involvement of the Amyloid Precursor Protein A673T Mutation against Amyloid Pathology and Alzheimer's Disease in Relation to Therapeutic Editing Tools.Pharmaceutics · 2022Review
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- Particulate Air Pollution and Risk of Neuropsychiatric Outcomes. What We Breathe, Swallow, and Put on Our Skin Matters.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Metals, Nanoparticles, Particulate Matter, and Cognitive Decline.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Article
- Rural residence across the life course and late-life cognitive decline in KHANDLE: A causal inference study.Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)Article
- Identifying influential environmental drivers of Alzheimer's disease at the county level using machine learning and explainable artificial intelligence.Journal of Alzheimer's disease reportsArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAir pollution has been consistently linked with dementia and cognitive decline. However, it is unclear whether risk is accumulated through long-term exposure or whether there are sensitive/critical periods. A key barrier to clarifying this relationship is the dearth of historical air pollution data.
objectiveTo demonstrate the feasibility of modelling historical air pollution data and using them in epidemiologicalmodels.
methodsUsing the EMEP4UK atmospheric chemistry transport model, we modelled historical fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations for the years 1935, 1950, 1970, 1980, and 1990 and combined these with contemporary modelled data from 2001 to estimate life course exposure in 572 participants in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 with lifetime residential history recorded. Linear regression and latent growth models were constructed using cognitive ability (IQ) measured by the Moray House Test at the ages of 11, 70, 76, and 79 years to explore the effects of historical air pollution exposure. Covariates included sex, IQ at age 11 years, social class, and smoking.
resultsHigher air pollution modelled for 1935 (when participants would have been in utero) was associated with worse change in IQ from age 11-70 years (β = -0.006, SE = 0.002, p = 0.03) but not cognitive trajectories from age 70-79 years (p > 0.05). There was no support for other critical/sensitive periods of exposure or an accumulation of risk (all p > 0.05).
conclusionThe life course paradigm is essential in understanding cognitive decline and this is the first study to examine life course air pollution exposure in relation to cognitive health.
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