Scientists Think Heavy Traffic Could Be Causing Dementia

If you live on a busy road you could be at higher risk of dementia, says new research that, if true, makes bleak reading for anyone who lives in a city.

Dementia sucks. It’s one of the worst kinds of illness anyone can get, both for the sufferer and their families. We wouldn’t wish it on our worst enemies, let alone fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters or friends.

New research published in the journal Lancet suggests that something like 11 per cent of dementia cases in people living within 50 metres of heavy traffic could be directly linked to the traffic itself. The researchers aren’t sure what proportion is due to pollution and how much is down to years of traffic noise, but independent scientists in the UK are calling the ideas plausible.

Canadian scientists followed almost two million people over 11 years. They found that the closer people lived to major roads, the greater the relative proportion of dementia cases and the likelier a person was to develop the illness. Genuinely scary stuff.

A seven per cent increase in likelihood applies to people living within 50 metres of heavily-trafficked roads, while those 50-100 metres away had a four per cent uplift. For residents between 100 metres and 200 metres from the busy roads in the study, the increase was two per cent.

The figures were adjusted for variables like smoking, poverty, obesity, education levels and so on. It’s not yet definitive proof that there is a link, but it suggests as much. With major cities growing massively and an expected explosion in the proportion of the global population who live in them, these increases in dementia rates could be pretty disastrous for healthcare systems.

The BBC quotes Prof Tom Dening, the director of the Centre for Dementia at the University of Nottingham, as saying: “It is certainly plausible that air pollution from motor exhaust fumes may contribute to brain pathology that over time may increase the risk of dementia, and this evidence will add to the unease of people who live in areas of high traffic concentration.

“Undoubtedly living in conditions of severe air pollution is extremely unpleasant and it is hard to suppose that it is good for anyone.”