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Newswise — MINNEAPOLIS – Older women who live in locations with higher levels of air pollution may have more brain shrinkage, the kind seen in Alzheimer’s disease, than women who live in locations with lower levels, according to a new study published in the November 18, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at fine particle pollution and found that breathing in high levels of this kind of air pollution was linked to shrinkage in the areas of the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.
Fine particle pollution consists of microscopic particles of chemicals, smoke, dust and other pollutants suspended in the air. They are no larger than 2.5 micrometers, 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
“Smaller brain volume is a…
