UK Biobank data demonstrate long-term exposure to floods is a risk factor for incident dementia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Flooding has emerged as the most prevalent natural disaster, impacting billions of individuals worldwide. However, the long-term effects of flooding exposure on dementia remain unclear.

Methods

With a nested case-control design, a risk-set sampling method was used to match cases and controls. Annual cumulative flooding exposure was calculated for each participant. The associations between flooding exposure and incident dementia were assessed using conditional logistic regression models.

Results

Here we show that the risk of flood-related incident dementia is the strongest in the current year and diminished over a span of 6 years. In the fully adjusted model, the cumulative odds ratios (OR) are 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25-1.31) for any dementia,

SUBMITTER: Wu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11894203 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature