Exposure to Ambient Air Pollutants and the Onset of Dementia: An Administrative Cohort Study in Québec

Association of improved air quality with lower dementia risk in older women

“…air pollution j air quality j dementia j incidence j epidemiology C onsistent evidence from epidemiologic studies and toxicological experiments has shown that ambient air pollution is an important modifiable risk factor of dementia (1). Several studies have shown an increased risk of dementia associated with late-life exposures to regional fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ; with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) and gaseous pollutants (e.g., NO 2 ; NO x ) (2-4, 11, 12, 15-17) in particular. Over the past 50 y, significant improvements in air quality (AQ) have been observed across the United States because of national policies and strategies aimed at regulating pollution from stationary (power plants; factories) and mobile (vehicles) sources (18).…”