Scientists identify potential link between wildfire smoke exposure and dementia diagnoses
Source: The Hill
11/25/24 2:42 PM ET
Exposure to the tiny pollutants emitted by wildfires may be increasing the older adult population’s odds of dementia diagnosis, a new study has found.
Among more than 1.2 million people tracked over a decade in Southern California, each microgram-per-cubic-meter rise in wildfire-borne particulate matter (PM 2.5) exposure was associated with an 18 percent increase in the odds of dementia diagnosis.
Prior research has already suggested that long-term exposure to PM 2.5 — fine particles present in the emissions of fossil fuel combustion — is associated with incident dementia: the first visit in which a patient receives a clinical diagnosis of this condition.
But the study authors sought to explore the specific links between both long-term wildfire and non-wildfire PM 2.5 exposure with incident dementia among older adults, as wildfire events become more intense and frequent in the U.S. and around the world.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5008542-wildfires-dementia-risk-older-adults-study/
Link to STUDY - Wildfire Smoke Exposure and Incident Dementia
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