Air pollution is linked to divergent cortical thickness patterns in brain regions vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Ambient air pollution increases Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk, yet exposure associations with cortical thickness (CTh) in AD-vulnerable brain regions is unclear. Here we examined the associations between PM_2.5 and NO₂ with CTh in an AD meta-region of interest (ROI), and across the cortex, in participants from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA) and Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from 387 VETSA men (M_age=61.9 ± 2.6) and 1097 WHIMS women (M_age=77.9 ± 3.7) without dementia or stroke prior to MRI. Long-term residential exposures to PM_2.5 and NO₂ were quantified as the 3-year average of monthly estimates prior to MRI that

SUBMITTER: Salminen LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC13620171 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature