Association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and dementia mortality in Chinese adults

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 849; p. 157860
• Main Authors: Liu, Tingting, Zhou, Yun, Wei, Jing, Chen, Qi, Xu, Ruijun, Pan, Jingju, Lu, Wenfeng, Wang, Yaqi, Fan, Zhaoyu, Li, Yingxin, Xu, Luxi, Cui, Xiuqing, Shi, Chunxiang, Zhang, Lan, Chen, Xi, Bao, Wei, Sun, Hong, Liu, Yuewei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 25.11.2022
• Subjects: Case-crossover study; Dementia; Excess mortality; Nitrogen dioxide; Particulate matter; Case-crossover study; Excess mortality; Nitrogen dioxide; Particulate matter; Dementia
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157860

Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution has been linked to an increased risk of mortality from a variety of causes, but its effects on mortality from dementia remain largely unknown. To investigate the association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and dementia mortality, and quantitatively assess the excess mortality. In this time-stratified case-crossover study, 47,108 dementia deaths were identified in Jiangsu province, China during 2015–2019. Exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), PM10, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3) was assessed by extracting daily concentrations from a validated grid dataset based on each subject's residential address. Conditional logistic regression models were applied for exposure-response analyses. There were 47,108 case days and 159,852 control days during the study period. Each 10 μg/m3 increase of lag 04-day exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 was significantly associated with a 1.43 % (95 % CI: 0.77, 2.09 %), 1.06 % (0.59, 1.54 %), and 2.80 % (1.51, 4.10 %) increase in odds of dementia mortality, corresponding to an excess mortality of 4.87 %, 5.50 %, and 6.43 %, respectively. We estimated that reducing ambient air pollutant exposures to the WHO air quality guidelines would avoid up to 4.17 % of the dementia deaths, while the ambient air quality standards in China would only help avoid up to 0.39 %. This study provides consistent evidence that short-term exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 is associated with increased odds of dementia mortality, which can be translated to a considerable excess mortality. Our findings highlight a potential approach to prevent deaths from dementia by reducing individual exposures to ambient air pollution, especially in areas with high levels of ambient air pollution. [Display omitted] •Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with an increased risk of dementia mortality.•Considerable excess mortality can be attributable to short-term exposure to ambient air pollution.•Reducing exposures to ambient air pollutants may help prevent premature dementia deaths.