To better understand how daily exposure to chemicals later in life may contribute to conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Northwestern University, University of California San Francisco and Emory University an $11 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The study will use nearly four decades of data from blood and urine tests to measure the levels of pesticides, metals and other elements in a sample of 5,000 people, and then match these results with MRI scans and cognitive tests to indicate what could possibly contribute. to an increased risk of neurological disorders.
“We aim to understand the origins of the increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. If there is a link with the environment, we can reduce environmental exposure in early and mid-life encourage, decades before the cognitive decline and other symptoms of dementia,” he said. the study’s principal investigator, Aimin Chen, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology at Penn. “The findings could also inform environmental policymaking to potentially reduce cases of brain aging disorders.”
The study samples will come from participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, which started in 1983. The sample consists of approximately equal numbers of black and white participants, the average age of the cohort when they entered the study. was 25. The researchers plan to examine 35 years of tests and data, which will follow many participants into their 60s.
Data from blood and urine samples that the team will evaluate include: levels of pesticides, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (chemicals previously used in paper, adhesives, plastics and electrical transformers), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (once commonly used in flame retardants ) materials in furniture, rugs and other items). Dean Jones, PhD, professor of medicine at Emory, will further analyze the “untargeted exposome” – that is, the known and unknown chemicals in the samples.
These data will then be compared with MRI images and cognitive function data to prospectively identify visible features of these exposures that may be associated with the risk of cognitive decline.
In addition to these goals, the researchers hope to investigate how non-biological “social determinants of health,” including education, poverty levels and historical redlining, play a role in both exposure and risk of neurological diseases.
These factors have often not been addressed in studies and may play an important role, especially given the racial health disparities that have long been observed across many health conditions. We hope to provide a clearer picture of how exposure may not be equal between different groups and what may be driving the differences in outcomes between people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”
Lifang Hou, MD, PhD, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern and long-term CARDIA researcher
For example, in the case of redlining, if a particular pesticide is determined to be a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, and a majority of Black residents have higher exposure to those pesticides because they live near industrial plants or agricultural operations, That could explain a difference in risk.
These factors, combined with decades of data, are important in the study of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. “Following a person’s path in their early years can be key to spotting avoidable risks,” says Kristine Yaffe, MD, professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at UC San Francisco. Someone in their thirties who lived in a neighborhood with heavy pesticide use but moved at age forty could develop Alzheimer’s disease at age sixty, but doctors and researchers would not have “longitudinal” data. to help. bring together factors that explain why this may have happened.
“Environmental exposure is complex and the risks associated with it often occur as a combination,” Chen said. “Longitudinal studies with repeated measures of environmental toxins and Alzheimer’s disease/dementia risk are limited. Mid-life studies are scarce because data are difficult to secure, but they are incredibly valuable. ”
The team also includes staff from the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
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