Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39986315›Full record

ArticleThe Lancet. Planetary health2025

The impacts of air pollution on mortality and hospital readmission among Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias: a national retrospective cohort study in the USA.

Shuxin Dong, Danielle Braun, Xiao Wu, Maayan Yitshak-Sade, Deborah Blacker, Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, Joel Schwartz, Daniel Mork, Francesca Dominici, Antonella Zanobetti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Lancet. Planetary health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. PMEnvironmental health perspectives · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Shuxin DongDepartment of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: shuxindong@hsph.harvard.edu.
Danielle BraunDepartment of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Data Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
Xiao WuDepartment of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Maayan Yitshak-SadeDepartment of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, MA, USA.
Deborah BlackerDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Marianthi-Anna KioumourtzoglouDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Joel SchwartzDepartment of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Daniel MorkDepartment of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Francesca DominiciDepartment of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Antonella ZanobettiDepartment of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

National Cohort Studies of Alzheimer's Disease, Related Dementias and Air PollutionR01AG066793 · NIA · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI ZANOBETTI, ANTONELLA · 2020 to 2025
$4.2M
Susceptibility and adverse health outcomes related to climate-sensitive events among older Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer and DementiaRF1AG080948 · NIA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI BELL, MICHELLE L, BENMARHNIA, TARIK · 2023 to 2023
$2.6M
Short and long-term consequences of wildfires for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.RF1AG071024 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI CASEY, JOAN A · 2021 to 2022
$2.4M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG066793NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG071024NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG080948
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) are prevalent neurodegenerative disorders, posing a critical worldwide public health challenge. Ambient air pollution has been identified as a potential risk factor for AD progression based on toxicological and epidemiological studies. We aimed to evaluate the impacts of air pollution-including fine particulate matter (PM

methodsWe constructed a population-based nationwide retrospective cohort including all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries (aged ≥65 years) in the contiguous USA (2000-16) hospitalised with AD/ADRD, and followed them up from the year after their first hospitalisation until (1) year of death (mortality cohort) and (2) year of second hospitalisation for any cause (readmission cohort). We calculated annual average PM

findingsOur cohort consisted of 5 544 118 individuals, of whom 4 543 759 (82·0%) died and 3 880 894 (70·0%) were readmitted to the hospital during the study period. The average follow-up times were 3·34 years (SD 2·60) for the mortality cohort and 1·98 years (SD 1·65) for the readmission cohort. In both the mortality and readmission cohorts we found significant associations with each pollutant. For an IQR increase in NO

interpretationWe provide new evidence that among a susceptible population with previous AD/ADRD-related hospitalisations, annual air pollution exposure since first hospitalisation is associated with risk of readmission and death.

fundingNational Institute on Aging.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsAir PollutionAlzheimer DiseaseDementiaPatient ReadmissionAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMedicareNitrogen DioxideOzoneParticulate MatterRetrospective StudiesUnited StatesAir PollutantsNitrogen DioxideOzoneParticulate Matter

Identifiers

PMID39986315
PMCPMC11970897

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.