Ecology of dementia
Scientists have named environmental factors that increase the risk of senile dementia
Dementia is a syndrome of decreased mental and functional activity that usually occurs in the elderly. The problem is becoming more and more urgent, and in the future its relevance will only increase, especially in low- and middle-income countries, the scientists said, referring to previous studies.
At least a third of dementia cases are associated with factors such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, smoking, depression and low level of education. Recent studies on the geographical prevalence of dementia have shown that environmental factors can also lead to this disease.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh have presented the first complete systematic study of environmental factors that increase the risk of dementia. To do this, they studied articles in the PubMed and Web of Science databases. The sample included all articles that somehow considered the relationship between environmental risks and dementia.
As a result, scientists sorted 4,784 studies and included 60 articles in the sample, which contained the most relevant data on the topic. Risk factors were divided into six categories: air quality, toxic heavy metals, other metals, trace elements, occupational risks, mixed environmental factors.
It turned out that there is moderate evidence of risk for the following factors: air pollution (in particular, a high content of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and tobacco smoke in the atmosphere), aluminum, silicon, selenium, pesticides, vitamin D deficiency, exposure to electric and magnetic fields.
There was little evidence that heavy metals, or any metals in general, increase the risk of dementia. The only exception is aluminum, for which the risk indicators were higher.
The most serious of these risk factors are vitamin D deficiency and strong electromagnetic fields, although their effect on the body requires more thorough research, the scientists noted.
The study is published in the journal BMC Geriatrics (Killin et al., Environmental risk factors for dementia: a systematic review).
Earlier, researchers from the UK and Mexico suggested that the content of magnetic nanoparticles in polluted air may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, which, like dementia, refers to neurodegenerative diseases.
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14.10.2016