Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD), affect over 47 million people worldwide, and this number is anticipated to reach 131.5 million by 2050.Because no medication successfully reverses the course of dementia, researchers are focusing increasing efforts on prevention by addressing potentially modifiable risk factors.Recent evidence suggests that air pollution, a ubiquitous environmental exposure, may be linked to neurodegeneration and dementia.This project aimed to advance the state of the science on this topic through biologically-based epidemiological analyses.In the first aim, using a cohort from the University of Washington Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, I evaluated the association between long and short-term PM2.5 exposure and biomarkers of vascular injury (E-selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1)) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).This question is important to investigate because of the growing evidence of the role of cerebrovascular disease in dementia as well as well-established linkages between air pollution and cardiovascular disease.Our analyses indicated that, among cognitively normal individuals, a 5 ug/m 3 increase in 1-yr and 7-day PM2.5 exposure was associated with elevated VCAM-1 (beta (95% CI) for 1-year: 51.8 (6.5, 97.1) ng/ml; 7-day: 35.4 (9.7, 61.1) ng/ml) and that a 5 ug/m 3 increase in 1-yr PM2.5 exposure was associated with I would like to thank my primary advisor, Lianne Sheppard, for her extensive support and guidance on this project.I would also like to thank my other committee members -
Author: Rachel M. Shaffer
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3162694109