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Impact of urban environmental exposures on cognitive performance and brain structure of healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's dementia
Crous-Bou M, Gascon M, Gispert JD, Cirach M, Sánchez-Benavides G, Falcon C, Arenaza-Urquijo EM, Gotsens X et al.. Environment international, 2020-03-06
Topic: Air pollution and environmental exposures
Background Air quality might contribute to incidence of dementia-related disorders, including Alzheimer's dementia (AD). The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of urban environmental exposures (including exposure to air pollution, noise and green space) on cognitive performance and brain structure of cognitively unimpaired individuals at risk for AD. Participants and methods The ALFA (ALzheimer and FAmilies) study is a prospective cohort of middle-age, cognitively unimpaired subjects, many of them offspring of AD patients. Cognitive performance was measured by the administration of episodic memory and executive function tests (N = 958). Structural brain imaging was performed in a subsample of participants to obtain morphological information of brain areas, specially focused on cortical thickness, known to be affected by AD (N = 228). Land Use Regression models were used to estimate residential exposure to air pollutants. The daily average noise level at the street nearest to each participant's residential address was obtained from noise maps. For each participant residential green exposure indicators, such as surrounding greenness or amount of green, were generated. General linear models were conducted to assess the association between environmental exposures, cognitive performance and brain structure in a cross-sectional analysis. Results No significant associations were observed between urban environmental exposures and the cognitive composite (p > 0.1). Higher exposure to air pollutants, but not noise, was associated with lower cortical thickness in brain regions known to be affected by AD, especially NO 2 (β = -16.4; p = 0.05) and PM 10 (β = -5.34; p = 0.05). On the other hand, increasing greenness indicators was associated with greater thickness in these same areas (β = 0.08; p = 0.03). Conclusion In cognitively unimpaired adults with increased risk for AD, increased exposure to air pollution was suggested to be associated with greater global atrophy and reduced volume and thickness in specific brain areas known to be affected in AD, thus suggesting a potential link between environmental exposures and cerebral vulnerability to AD. Although more research in the field is needed, air pollution reduction is crucial for decreasing the burden of age-related disorders.
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APA 7th
Crous-Bou, M., Gascon, M., Gispert, J. D., Cirach, M., Sánchez-Benavides, G., Falcon, C., et al. (2020). Impact of urban environmental exposures on cognitive performance and brain structure of healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's dementia. Environment international. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105546
Vancouver
Crous-Bou M, Gascon M, Gispert JD, Cirach M, Sánchez-Benavides G, Falcon C, et al. Impact of urban environmental exposures on cognitive performance and brain structure of healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's dementia. Environment international. 2020. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.105546. PMID: 32151419.
BibTeX
@article{crousbou2020-32151419,
author = {Crous-Bou, M. and Gascon, M. and Gispert, J. D. and Cirach, M. and Sánchez-Benavides, G. and Falcon, C. and Arenaza-Urquijo, E. M. and Gotsens, X. and others},
title = {{Impact of urban environmental exposures on cognitive performance and brain structure of healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's dementia}},
journal = {Environment international},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1016/j.envint.2020.105546},
pmid = {32151419},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105546}
}
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Key findings
- Results No significant associations were observed between urban environmental exposures and the cognitive composite (p > 0.1).
- Higher exposure to air pollutants, but not noise, was associated with lower cortical thickness in brain regions known to be affected by AD, especially NO 2 (β = -16.4; p = 0.05) and PM 10 (β = -5.34; p = 0.05).
- On the other hand, increasing greenness indicators was associated with greater thickness in these same areas (β = 0.08; p = 0.03).
- Conclusion In cognitively unimpaired adults with increased risk for AD, increased exposure to air pollution was suggested to be associated with greater global atrophy and reduced volume and thickness in specific brain areas known to be affected in AD, thus suggesting a potential link between environmental exposures and cerebral vulnerability to AD.
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Study details
- Study designprospective cohort
- Participants958
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 62/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a prospective cohort study, followed forward from enrollment. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 36 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 62 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Environment international) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A prospective cohort study, followed forward from enrollment |
| 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 | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 958 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32151419) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 36 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 36 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 62 out of 100. |
| Total | 62 / 100 | — |
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