No increased risk found for PD mortality due to air pollution

[Esperanto]

Scientists have followed a Dutch cohort of over ten million people to investigate whether individuals who are exposed to long-term air pollution have a higher risk of mortality from neurological disorders. The study, led by scientists from the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) at Utrecht University, found no association between exposure to air pollution and an increased risk of mortality from PD.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/389...

[Stillstandingstill]

The headline is very reassuring but there are some acknowledged issues within this study.

Measuring mortality doesn't account for the protracted course of PD including the prodromal phase, the reduction of risk in smokers or the underreporting of PD as cause of death. The authors note "The evidence for associations between ambient air pollution and the risk of Parkinson is therefore still insufficient."

They refer to a 2019 study which also found no correlations between PD development and air pollutants...except for a subgroup of non smoking women.

My take home message from these studies is that there is no evidence that air pollution does NOT cause or exacerbate Parkinson's, particularly in women.

[Esperanto in reply to Stillstandingstill]

Please note that there is a strong relationship between air pollution and an overall increased risk of mortality, but further research apparently shows no such association with PD and MS. Due to the unclear results from previous studies, this more extensive investigation was conducted involving 10 million people. As an environmentalist, I understand the importance of cleaner air, but when it comes to PD, we should not imply a connection if it apparently does not exist.

[Stillstandingstill in reply to Esperanto]

Although the cohort is large, the use of mortality rather than morbidity isn't sensitive as a measure when PD has a long progression and is often underreported as a cause of death.

Also, although I'm not suggesting that there was conflict of interest, I'm uncomfortable that this trial was part funded by "certain motor vehicle and engine manufacturers."

My final point is that if we consider that PD may have many different triggers, there could be specific cohorts of the PD population who are more affected by air pollution than others, and it seems a bit hasty to dismiss it based on studies like this. We need more nuance to unpick the subtypes.

[Camomi]

There are 10 million people here in the Netherlands between 18 and 65. So they followed them all??? Our total population is around 17 million.Perhaps I don't understand it, but otherwise they lie🥱

[Esperanto in reply to Camomi]

« Methods: A Dutch national cohort of 10.8 million adults aged ≥30 years was followed from 2013 until 2019. Annual average concentrations of air pollutants (ultra-fine particles (UFP), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particles (PM2.5 and PM10) and elemental carbon (EC)) were estimated at the home address at baseline, using land-use regression models. The outcome variables were mortality due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, non-vascular dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS). Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated using Cox models, adjusting for individual and area-level socio-economic status covariates. »

[LAJ12345 in reply to Esperanto]

Mortality so they had to have died? What about the numbers being diagnosed?

[JayPwP in reply to LAJ12345]

Very good question...