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Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

nature.com

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Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#111

Post by selimthegrim »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #69
goalieca wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The maps in the article wasn’t even super clear when you inspect it visually. Didn’t read the study but it can’t be that strongly correlated.

I was going to say something similar. Obviously I was just taking a visual look and not doing any rigorous analysis, but California certainly sticks out like a sore thumb. It has many areas in the Central Valley and Southern California with very high PM2.5 levels, but no "purple" areas with high dementia levels in the state. I also just read the article and not the study but I'd hope they give an explanation for that…

New Orleans is another one.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#112

Post by Insanity »

zosima wrote: post #106
Avshalom wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah, sure definitely it's just as likely that people predisposed to dementia move to places with high air pollution...

People who are poorer and have worse health are predisposed to live in cheaper dwellings, many of which are closer to roads and thus more noisy and with more air pollution. People who are poorer and have worse health, also have an increased incidence of dementia, seemingly independently of the number of particles in their dwellings.

I’m not sure this is a completely valid statement. Take Ontario - the most expensive places to live are in Toronto with the most traffic, the cheapest places are more rural without that heavy traffic and thus less pollution.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#113

Post by J_Shelby_J »

thadk wrote: post #63
dynm wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I think the wirecutter's quality for air purifiers is pretty bad, and likely more influenced by affiliate payments than science: https://dynomight.net/ikea-purifier/

I tried the cheap IKEA model and with my severe dust mite allergies the model was insufficient in comparison to calm my sixth sinus-bound sense. My main suspicion: In my last 3 abodes with pre-1955 construction in East Coast, the pre-filter on the top Wirecutter pick needs to be cleaned 3x per carbon filter replacement in order to reduce largest particle accumulation on the carbon or HEPA filters. The inexpensive IKE…

Just buy three for the same price as one expensive model :D

I have mine hooked up to smart outlets and particulate meter to automate them. I just wish I could control the speed.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#114

Post by jvanderbot »

dynm wrote: post #50

This article repeats the common mistake of conflating correlations and causality. The main results are (1) that PM2.5 exposure is correlated with dementia in humans, (2) some experimental results with mice. This does not establish causality in humans. The paper is careful to stay juuuust on the right side of the line by carefully using "associated" in the right places. But the press release discards that pretense at…

The Parkinson's Plan talks extensively about the risk factors associated with the disease, and discussed the link between air pollution and the disease. They say that it is a trigger / cause that only sometimes works for reasons unknown (paraphrasing). Is a "sometimes cause" still causal?

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#115

Post by jvanderbot »

Avshalom wrote: post #78
dynm wrote: post #50

This article repeats the common mistake of conflating correlations and causality. The main results are (1) that PM2.5 exposure is correlated with dementia in humans, (2) some experimental results with mice. This does not establish causality in humans. The paper is careful to stay juuuust on the right side of the line by carefully using "associated" in the right places. But the press release discards that pretense at…

Oh yeah, sure definitely it's just as likely that people predisposed to dementia move to places with high air pollution...

In rural areas it's pesticides. And in urban areas it's dry cleaners and air pollution. Parkinson's Plan is worth a read for the kind of details you can't get on a single article

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#116

Post by Aurornis »

firesteelrain wrote: post #33

Dementia rates in Miami Dade are among the highest in the country while Utah is on the low end. What is striking is that Utah has worse air quality, which is a known risk factor, yet still shows lower prevalence. Why is that?

Dementia isn’t caused by one single factor, as far as we know.

Studies like this show that air quality is correlated with dementia in general, but we don’t know if that means air quality directly contributes to dementia or if air quality just happens to be correlated with something else that contributes to dementia.

As for Utah: They have lower rates of drinking and drug use and higher levels of physical fitness and outdoor activity, among other factors.

Utah’s average air quality also isn’t as bad as you hear about. The mountain geography can trap pollution on certain winter days, but the average air quality in Salt Lake City is surprisingly better than most metro areas with 500K or more people: https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/03/26/air-qu...

> In 2023, Salt Lake had the 11th-lowest average particulate matter levels, known as PM2.5, of 103 cities reviewed by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#117

Post by jamesblonde »

There are around 50k public air quality sensors globally that publish pm2.5 measurements. Still, there are no good air quality forecasts. In my two home cities (Dublin and Stockholm), there are 30-50 public sensors.

The first exercise in my O'Reilly book (released next month) is to build a pm25 forecast using basic ML (features are weather and lagged air quality). Code is available here:

https://github.com/featurestorebook/mlfs-book/

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#119

Post by J_Shelby_J »

jader201 wrote: post #58
Taek wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually not been established (at least, to the best of my knowledge) that PM2.5 caused by water vapor is any less harmful than other types of PM2.5 particulates. And sure, yes, it's just water and its entirely plausible that water based PM2.5 is completely harmless... but wouldn't it be good to know that for sure?

Wouldn't that suggest that, at least to some degree, dementia would be elevated in humid vs. dry climates?

Water particles vs water vapor

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#120

Post by J_Shelby_J »

swayvil wrote: post #2

Therefore city dwellers are demented and rural dwellers aren't. (And this says nothing about the effects of noise pollution or aesthetic pollution) EDIT Oh come on, it's the obvious conclusion. So discuss already.

It would be if it was only pollution but my understanding it’s pm2.5 in general. Rural areas can and do have high pm2.5. Look at the map. It could be agriculture or dust or flora.
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