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by Hazel Trice Edney
For New Pittsburgh Courier
The cause of racial disparities between Black and White Alzheimer’s dementia patients has been a long-standing mystery for medical scientists. Now, there appears to be a breakthrough that could lead to the answer as to why older Black people are currently living with and dying from dementia at twice the rate of Whites.
A study, published three years ago, in the Journals of Gerontology reports that environmental pollution, also disparate in Black communities, may be contributing to the racial disparities in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, especially in Black women, the population that carries the overwhelming burden of Alzheimer’s in the U. S.
“For decades, research has shown the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease in the United States is dramatically higher among African American populations than in non-Hispanic white populations. Scientists have suspected a variety of contributing factors, but the underlying reasons have remained unclear,” states a news release from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). “Now, a new study in The Journals of Gerontology, conducted in collaboration with researchers across the country, points to environmental neurotoxins – specifically, ambient fine particles in the air known as PM2.5 – as possible culprits in the disproportionate number of African American, particularly Black women, affected by dementia.”
The release, written by Jeremy Deutchman, headlined “Environmental pollution may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s disease risk,” quotes a Keck professor explaining the results of the study.
“Data increasingly show that older people are more likely to develop dementia if they live in locations with high PM2.5, and African American populations are more likely to live in neighborhoods near polluting facilities — like power-generating and petrochemical plants – that emit the particulate matter,” said corresponding author Jiu-Chiuan Chen, MD, ScD, associate professor of population and public health sciences at Keck. “Our study demonstrates that older Black women live in locations with higher levels of PM2.5, and we ask whether their elevated exposure could account for the higher numbers of Alzheimer’s cases. The evidence does reveal a positive association.”
Chen says the results of the study might now assist researchers in recommending ways to shrink the disparity.
“Our work offers the scientific community an important perspective on the study of dementia; namely, that we must have a greater awareness of environmental racism that can impact brain aging and disproportionately affect people of color,” Chen says. “There is also a key regulatory takeaway, which is that we have to continue enforcing the Clean Air Act, with its mandate to provide a safe margin for air quality that will protect the health of susceptible populations.”
According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PM2.5 “describes fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.”
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA “sets and reviews national air quality standards for PM.” The EPA also monitors air quality and measures concentrations of PM throughout the country to “ensure that PM in the air is at levels that protect public health and the environment.”
Still, as the racial disparities persist in brain health, there is dire need for continued research, Chen says.
“We also demonstrated that older African American women may be more susceptible to the particulate matter, but we still don’t know why,” Chen says. “Why are these particles more neurotoxic to Black women than to non-Hispanic whites? Going forward, we plan to look for answers by studying the effects of things like nutrition and brain structure.”
He concludes, “An increasing number of USC faculty are trying to better understand whether and why air pollution can cause more damage to the human brains in minority populations or communities with social disadvantages. Our study is just the beginning of vital scientific work that needs to be done.”
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This article is part of a series powered by AARP for the purpose of brain health education. Click here for additional information on brain health and staying sharp.
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