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Agricultural pesticide use and Alzheimer’s disease dementia prevalence across US counties in a mixed supervised–unsupervised analysis
Leon Wang, Sara Knox, Andrew B. Lawson, Abolfazl Mollalo. Scientific Reports, 2026-06-11
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Agricultural pesticide use represents one of the most geographically patterned environmental systems, yet most prior research has focused largely on individual compounds rather than correlated exposure regimes. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using modeled pesticide application intensity and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) dementia prevalence at the county-level across the United States. Stability-based Elastic Net screening and clustering were used to identify exposure groupings, and associations with AD prevalence were estimated using adjusted regression models. Out of 462 total pesticides screened, 112 demonstrated high selection stability and were grouped into 25 exposure clusters. Twenty clusters were significantly associated with AD dementia prevalence ( p <0.05). The strongest positive associations were observed for a soil fumigation/nematicide system, an herbicide-dominant vegetation control regime, and a neuroactive insecticide system. Neuroactive insecticides and soil-intensive treatment systems were disproportionately represented among positively associated clusters, whereas systems dominated by phenoxy- and photosystem II inhibiting herbicides were more frequently aligned with inverse gradients. The fully adjusted model explained 59% of between-county variance (baseline R 2 = 0.44). Findings suggest that pesticide mixtures are associated with geographic heterogeneity in AD dementia prevalence and warrant higher-resolution, longitudinal investigation.
Key findings
- Out of 462 total pesticides screened, 112 demonstrated high selection stability and were grouped into 25 exposure clusters.
- Twenty clusters were significantly associated with AD dementia prevalence ( p <0.05).
- Findings suggest that pesticide mixtures are associated with geographic heterogeneity in AD dementia prevalence and warrant higher-resolution, longitudinal investigation.
Why it matters
This cross-sectional county-level analysis found that 20 of 25 pesticide exposure clusters were significantly associated with Alzheimer's disease dementia prevalence. The authors state that the findings warrant higher-resolution, longitudinal investigation, so no causal or preventive conclusion can be drawn yet.
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Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 39/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a snapshot of people at one point in time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Scientific Reports) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Scientific Reports: journal h-index 463 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 0 / 7 | Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026 |
| Impact for its field and year | 0 / 6 | Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Abolfazl Mollalo: h-index 25 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Medical University of South Carolina: institution h-index 715 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 42277155) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 39 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
- DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-55678-4
- PubMed: 42277155
- Original source →
- Free full text: Scientific Reports →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Wang, L., Knox, S., Lawson, A. B., & Mollalo, A. (2026). Agricultural pesticide use and Alzheimer’s disease dementia prevalence across US counties in a mixed supervised–unsupervised analysis. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55678-4
Vancouver
Wang L, Knox S, Lawson AB, Mollalo A. Agricultural pesticide use and Alzheimer’s disease dementia prevalence across US counties in a mixed supervised–unsupervised analysis. Scientific Reports. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41598-026-55678-4. PMID: 42277155.
BibTeX
@article{wang2026-42277155,
author = {Wang, Leon and Knox, Sara and Lawson, Andrew B. and Mollalo, Abolfazl},
title = {{Agricultural pesticide use and Alzheimer’s disease dementia prevalence across US counties in a mixed supervised–unsupervised analysis}},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-55678-4},
pmid = {42277155},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55678-4}
}
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