Staying Fit
|The benefits of improving air quality go beyond happier trees and better breathing. New research presented at the 2021 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) finds that cleaner air may also improve cognitive function and lower a person's risk for dementia.
Poor air quality has long been associated with poor health. It increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Air pollution has also been linked in several studies to an increased risk for dementia, including the most common form, Alzheimer's disease. However, improving air quality could reverse those risks, according to a few new findings.

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In one report presented on July 26, researchers looked at more than 2,200 women between the ages of 74 and 92 enrolled in a major U.S. study for a 10-year period, between 2008 and 2018. None of the women had dementia at the start of the study, and in the 10 years before it began, air quality throughout the U.S. had greatly improved.
But in areas where the air was even cleaner — where levels of fine particulate matter (which can include chemicals emitted from construction sites and power plants, for example) and traffic-related pollutants were below the Environmental Protection Agency's set standard — the investigators found dementia risk decreased by 14 and 26 percent over about a six-year follow-up. Improvements were seen in other areas, too, including memory and attention; cognitive decline also slowed for participants living in areas with better air quality.