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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

#61

Post by cluckindan »

phoenixhaber wrote: post #34

I'd like to know the effects of air pollution on at risk populations that use inhalable drugs or smoke as well. I believe the results would be much worse. Potentially related https://m.slashdot.org/story/446420 EDIT commenting to child so as not to start a flame war. Lung scarring, emphasema, bronchial illness and so forth can cause the lungs to trap particulates in the lungs longer than they should over the long ter…

Not all inhalable drugs are the same. Also, not all inhalations are the same.

Your idea could hold for people who smoke cigarettes or use combustion-heated pipes to consume hard drugs like meth or crack, or for people who smoke a lot of poor quality cannabis, especially without any kind of filtering.

It probably doesn’t hold for people who use a dry herb vaporizer to consume cannabis, since the method of consumption doesn’t generate PM2.5 or combustion gases, and the volatile constituents of cannabis are well established to have local and systemic anti-inflammatory effects.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#62

Post by goalieca »

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 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.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#63

Post by thadk »

dynm wrote: post #47
skybrian wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An air purifier is pretty cheap and will cut down on indoor pollution from cooking a lot. Or at least that’s how it seemed from the somewhat unreliable sensor I was using. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier...

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 IKEA model did not have a viable and easily cleaned pre filter as far as I could figure out.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#64

Post by dynm »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #60
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…

Why is this brought up here every time an association article is mentioned, every undergraduate that took a statistics course has covered the difference between correlation and causation. We do population level correlation studies because sometimes a double blind study is unethical, and double blind studies is the bar for establishing causation in the medical community. We cannot give one person randomly worse air to…

You seem to be responding as if I claimed that population-level correlational studies are bad, or that I claimed that air pollution is not bad for you. But I did not claim either of those things.

What I claimed is that this press release takes a population-level correlational study and presents it in a misleading way that implies causation was established. Which this press release most certainly does.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#65

Post by neom »

Anyone knowledgable on this research area able to enlighten me on how pesticides are included (nor not) in these air particulate studies? In my head PM studies are primality focused on combusted stuff? Do pesticides factor into PM readings in a geography? I ask because I seem to recall there being some articles linking pesticides to dementia/Parkinson.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#66

Post by gausswho »

Mistletoe wrote: post #38
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?

There are obviously lots more factors affecting dementia than air quality. Also Utah has worse air quality than Miami? Where in Utah? My trips to Utah I remember pristine air but of course I didn’t have an air monitor on board other than my nose. Edit: Oh I see >Utah, particularly in urban areas like the Wasatch Front, frequently experiences worse air quality than Miami. Utah's air quality issues are often caused by…

Salt Lake is a ticking time bomb as it evaporates and exposes heavy metals downwind to major population centers.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#67

Post by gausswho »

Taek wrote: post #43
jodrellblank wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The raw PM2.5 values also skyrocket with just boiling tap water, on my Ikea Vindstyrka. Which makes me question how useful it is, presumably even with "dry" cooking a lot of meats and vegetables have water in them? https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vindstyrka-air-quality-sensor-s...

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?

Sauna ritual life would make an interesting comparison.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#68

Post by plorkyeran »

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.

One of the surprising things about visiting the mountains to do various outdoor activities in nature is how often the air quality is worse than it is at home in an urban area. A big part of this is that "home" is the SF Bay Area and we have consistent winds blowing inland from the ocean, which blows our air pollution to other people (and the air gets noticeable worse when this doesn't happen), but also the air quality is often shockingly poor in rural areas. Wood stoves, diesel generators, and the like in spots where the pollution gets trapped can do a lot even with low density.

On average the air quality is worse in cities than in rural areas, but at least in the United States the difference is smaller than you might expect. In countries that do not take urban air pollution seriously it gets very bad, of course.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#69

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

goalieca wrote: post #62
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 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 glaring outlier.

I'd be interested to compare the disease map with a map of average income, because at first glance the disease data looks to be correlated with wealth, and we already have tons of research that shows that wealth is one of the biggest determinants of health outcomes in the US.

Re: Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk

#70

Post by globular-toast »

bamboozled wrote: post #3

I've heard the argument made that it's better to stop burning fossil fuel, even if you're a climate change denier for reasons like this. Even if you think climate change is a hoax, why not reduce pollution anyway?

The people who benefit from the status quo are also the people who have the power to change it, and they don't have to live in the polluted areas.
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