Recent research continues to explore the complex relationship between environmental factors and healthy aging, with new findings pointing to specific areas that may play a role in the aging process.
One such study, analyzing data from more than 25,000 Americans aged 50 or older and over a 10-year period, suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution, especially from traffic-related sources, may increase older adults’ risk of losing their independence due to health or memory problems. A significant increase in road traffic-related pollution was linked to a 10% higher risk of lost independence. In addition, the researchers estimated, nearly 730,000 new cases of lost independence per year in the United States may be attributable to traffic-related air pollution, potentially costing $11.7 billion annually.
The researchers concluded that their findings support the importance of environmental factors in healthy aging, and the potential health and economic benefits of improving air quality to help older adults maintain their independence for longer.
In a second study, conducted in China, researchers concluded that both nighttime and daytime heat are linked to an increased risk of dementia-related deaths. The analysis, including more than 130,000 dementia-related deaths from 2013 to 2019, found that nighttime heat was associated with a greater burden of deaths compared to daytime heat when using stricter temperature thresholds.
The study showed that the effects of hot nights on dementia-related death risk lasted for 6 days, while hot days’ effects persisted for 10 days. At the strictest threshold examined, extreme nighttime heat was associated with a 38% increase in the odds of dementia-related death, while extreme daytime heat was linked to a 46% increase.
These findings emphasize the need for tailored public health interventions at different times of the day to protect vulnerable populations from the health impacts of extreme heat.
