The role of comorbidities in the associations between air pollution and Alzheimer's disease: A national cohort study in the American Medicare population.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Air pollution and several common comorbidities-such as hypertension, stroke, and depression-are established risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether these comorbidities mediate or amplify the effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on AD remains unclear. We aimed to investigate whether these conditions modify or mediate the association between PM2.5 exposure and incident AD.

Methods and findings

We conducted a nationwide cohort study including 27.8 million US Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older from 2000 to 2018. Exposure to PM2.5 was assessed using high-resolution air pollution datasets. Cox proportional hazards models were applied to estimate the associations between exposure to PM2.5, incident AD, and comorbidities. The potentia

SUBMITTER: Deng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12912588 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature