BOSTON, MA – It is well-established that air pollution is detrimental to human health. Air pollution is responsible for 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. What has been less clear is the potential connection between air pollution and dementia. But in the past two years, studies on the subject have proliferated.
Biogen has been working with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health NIEHS Center for Environmental Health to sift through the emergent data, conducting the most comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis on air pollution and dementia to date. The paper found that data highly suggest small air pollution particles (PM2.5) are a risk factor for dementia. This is an important finding that underscores the action needed to address air pollution and transition away from fossil fuels.
The paper and its findings were presented earlier this month at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Seattle.
“The data are clearly pointing towards PM2.5 playing a role in risk of dementia,” said senior author Professor Marc Weisskopf. “More data would clearly still be helpful, in particular studies with methods that actively assess all study participants. Some key questions persist. For example, more data exists for PM2.5, but less for other pollutants; exactly when these exposures are most relevant is still unclear; and identifying biological mechanisms underlying these relations would be very useful.”
Biogen will be working with the Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives™ Scientific Advisory Council to determine how Biogen can help best further advance scientific understanding in this area to enable informed action to reduce environmental risks for dementia.