Abstract:
|
Current research suggests adverse health effects of PM2.5 exposure on cognitive decline and dementia-related outcomes. However, the critical windows of exposure related to air pollution exposure remain unclear. We evaluate various longitudinal relationships between air pollution exposures and cognitive decline in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort. Specifically, we evaluated the immediate effects of air pollution exposures over one year prior to each cognitive assessment using a time-varying effect model (TVEM) (estimate= -0.01, 95% CI = [-0.01, -0.16] for Digital Symbol Substitution), long-lasting health effects of air pollution exposure over one year prior to visit 2 on all subsequent cognitive assessments using multilevel structural equation models (SEQ) (p-value < 0.001), and cumulative and combined health effects of air pollution exposures in all defined time intervals on cognitive function using a distributed lag, non-linear model (DLNM) (Lag = 30 days). The findings of this research can assist in defining the underlying mechanisms of exposure windows and developing effective interventions in mitigating adverse health effects of the environmental exposures.
|