Traffic-Related Air Pollution as a Risk Factor for Dementia: No Clear Modifying Effects of APOE ɛ 4 in the Betula Cohort Show others and affiliations
2019 (English) In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, ISSN 1387-2877, E-ISSN 1875-8908, Vol. 71, no 3, p. 733-740Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
It is widely known that the apolipoprotein E (APOE ) ɛ 4 allele imposes a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent evidence suggests that exposure to air pollution is also a risk factor for AD, and results from a few studies indicate that the effect of air pollution on cognitive function and dementia is stronger in APOE ɛ 4 carriers than in non-carriers. Air pollution and interaction with APOE ɛ 4 on AD risk thus merits further attention. We studied dementia incidence over a 15-year period from the longitudinal Betula study in Northern Sweden. As a marker for long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution, we used modelled annual mean nitrogen oxide levels at the residential address of the participants at start of follow-up. Nitrogen oxide correlate well with fine particulate air pollution levels in the study area. We had full data on air pollution, incidence of AD and vascular dementia (VaD), APOE ɛ 4 carrier status, and relevant confounding factors for 1,567 participants. As expected, air pollution was rather clearly associated with dementia incidence. However, there was no evidence for a modifying effect by APOE ɛ 4 on the association (p -value for interaction > 0.30 for both total dementia (AD+VaD) and AD). The results from this study do not imply that adverse effects of air pollution on dementia incidence is limited to, or stronger in, APOE ɛ 4 carriers than in the total population.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages IOS Press, 2019. Vol. 71, no 3, p. 733-740
Keywords [en]
Air pollution, Alzheimer’s disease, apolipoprotein E, dementia
National Category
Occupational Health and Environmental Health
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-163266 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-181037 ISI: 000488819100002 PubMedID: 31450491 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85073082152 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-163266 DiVA, id: diva2:1350697
2019-09-122019-09-122024-04-08 Bibliographically approved