Researchers in Canada conducted a retrospective study which discovered living near a busy road may increase changes of developing dementia. The study extrapolated information from a health database of 678,000 residents ranging from 45-84 years old living in Vancouver. Adults who lived less than 150 meters (a little less than 1 mile) from highways and less than 50 meters from major roads had increased odds of developing neurological disorders. This may be caused by increased air pollution exposure. Noise exposure did not affect associations. The study showed an association between air pollution and developing Parkinson’s disease and non-Alzheimer’s dementia (Vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, etc.) There was no correlation with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings also showed that green space exposure reduced the correlation between air pollution and neurological disorder risk.
Source: https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-020-0565-4
