Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41086926›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental research2025

Air toxics and late-life dementia and cognitive impairment in Mexican Americans.

Yu Yu, Jason Su, Sanjali Mitra, Yufan Gong, Shiwen Li, Yuyuan Lin, Karl O'Sharkey, Kimberly C Paul, Beate Ritz

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In one paragraph

Article in Environmental research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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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

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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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Yu YuCenter for Health Policy Research, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Jason SuDivision of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, California, USA.
Sanjali MitraDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Yufan GongDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Shiwen LiDepartment of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, California, USA.
Yuyuan LinDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Karl O'SharkeyDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Kimberly C PaulDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
Beate RitzDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA. Electronic address: britz@ucla.edu.

Funding

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FUNCTIONAL STATUS IN ELDERLY HISPANICSR01AG012975 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI HAAN, MARY N · 1997 to 2015
$13.8M
Air Pollution, Metabolome, and Alzheimer disease in Mexican AmericansRF1NS130691 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI RITZ, BEATE R. · 2022 to 2022
$2.3M
Environment and cognitive decline in older HispanicsR01ES023451 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI HAAN, MARY N, RITZ, BEATE R. · 2015 to 2017
$1.8M
Diabetes in older Latinos, stress and brain changesR01DK060753 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI HAAN, MARY N. · 2002 to 2004
$1.4M
Epidemiology of Hypertension and Obesity in Older Mexican AmericansR03AG033751 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI HAAN, MARY N · 2010 to 2011
$124k
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG012975NIA NIH HHS R03 AG033751NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK060753NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES023451NINDS NIH HHS RF1 NS130691
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAir pollution has been linked to cognitive impairment, yet studies on air toxics - specific components of particulate matter and/or volatile organic compounds - remain limited compared to criteria pollutants.

objectiveWe aim to examine whether long-term exposure to modeled traffic-related and industrial/urban-related air toxics including benzene, 1,3-butadiene, lead, nickel, chromium, zinc was associated with the development of incident dementia or cognitive impairment without dementia (CIND) among older Mexican Americans.

methodsWe included 1612 Mexican American participants from the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging conducted from 1998 to 2007. Land use regression models estimated concentrations of annual air toxics based on the participants' geocoded residential addresses. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we estimated the hazard of incident dementia or CIND for time-varying air toxics exposures calculated by averaging over 1-, 3-, 5- and 10-calendar years prior to an event for everyone in the risk set at the event time; pollutant concentrations were entered into models as continuous variables scaled by their inter-quartile range (IQR).

resultsAmong the air toxics, higher 1,3-butadiene levels we estimated a hazard ratio of 1.12 (95 % CI: 1.00, 1.25) for incident dementia/CIND per IQR increase in 1,3-butadiene exposures. Benzene, zinc and nickel were positively and more strongly associated with dementia/CIND or dementia alone, but the estimated 95 % confidence intervals crossed the null. Associations remained robust when adjusting for other co-pollutants.

conclusionOur findings indicate that air toxics are adversely associated with cognition in older Mexican Americans, providing critical evidence that traffic- and industry-related air toxics contribute to cognitive impairment. Future studies exploring the mechanisms underlying these associations are needed.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsCognitive DysfunctionDementiaEnvironmental ExposureMexican AmericansAgedAged, 80 and overAir PollutionCaliforniaFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedParticulate MatterProportional Hazards ModelsAir PollutantsParticulate MatterAir toxicCognitive impairmentDementia

Identifiers

PMID41086926
PMCPMC13398184

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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.