LOS ANGELES — Research led by the University of Southern California (USC) has found that air pollution increases the chance of elderly women developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
The study suggests that older women who breathe particles from polluted air, such as car exhausts fumes, are at twice the risk of developing dementia, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Elderly women who carry the APOE4 gene and breathe heavy pollution have a much higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a news release on the University of Southern California website. APOE4 is a gene that increases the chance of developing Alzheimer’s.
“Although the link between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease is a new scientific frontier, we now have evidence that air pollution, like tobacco, is dangerous to the aging brain,” study co-author Caleb Finch said.
The findings were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.
