Abstract
The impact of occupational and environmental exposure to external airborne agents on cognitive function, especially in incidence of dementia, is understudied. The present study was conducted to elucidate the association between severe external airborne agents’ exposure and incidence of dementia among an elderly population and to explore the effects of exposure to severe external airborne agents on preclinical dementia using the screening test of dementia. From the National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HealS, 2002–2015), 514,580 participants were used for data analysis. We estimated the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) according to the exposure to external airborne agents. Of the total participants (n = 514,580), 1340 (0.3%) experienced severe external airborne agents exposure, and 26,050 (5.1%) had been diagnosed with dementia. The SIRs (95%CI) of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, dementia in other diseases, and unspecific dementia were 1.24 (1.01–1.49), 0.88 (0.37–1.32), 1.16 (0.01–2.77), and 0.69 (0.36–1.02), respectively. The risk of testing positive in the dementia screening significantly increased with exposure to severe external airborne agents after adjusting for all confounding variables. This study found that exposure to severe external airborne agents is a potential risk factor for dementia, especially in Alzheimer’s disease. It is essential to create international awareness regarding the effect of airborne agents’ exposure on dementia.
Highlights
Exposure to external airborne agents has become a serious issue, as it is a threatening health hazard
Severe external airborne agents’ exposure was significantly associated with different types of dementia
This study demonstrated that severe external airborne agents’ exposure was significantly associated with a high risk of dementia, and a high association was noted for dementia in Alzheimer’s disease
Summary
Exposure to external airborne agents has become a serious issue, as it is a threatening health hazard. Previous research has explored the relationship between exposure to external airborne agents and its effects on human health [1,2,3]. Inhalation is the most primary route of exposure to external airborne agents, resulting in dust-related respiratory diseases and disabilities, such as chronic respiratory diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, and pneumoconiosis [4,5,6]. In spite of greatly improving preventative technologies and knowledge, deaths caused by pneumoconiosis from external airborne agents have not changed in over two decades [7]
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