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Harmful Association Identified Between Traffic Pollution, Amyloid Plaques

THURSDAY, Feb. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Traffic-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) affects the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) score, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in Neurology.

Grace M. Christensen, Ph.D., from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using 224 brain tissue donors who died before 2020. Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology was assessed among donors using the Braak stage, CERAD score, and combined AD neuropathologic change (ABC) score. The association between traffic-related PM2.5 (based on measurements of one-, three-, and five-year average PM2.5 concentrations before death matched to home addresses) and AD hallmark pathology was examined.

Of the participants, 57 percent had at least one APOE ε4 copy. The researchers observed a significant association for traffic-related PM2.5 with the CERAD score for the one- and three-year exposure windows (odds ratios, 1.92 and 1.87, respectively). Nonsignificant associations were seen for PM2.5 with Braak stage and ABC score. Those without APOE ε4 markers had the strongest associations between PM2.5 and neuropathology markers (e.g., odds ratio, 2.31 for the CERAD score and one-year exposure window); however, the interaction between PM2.5 and APOE genotype was not significant.

"Our study found traffic-related PM2.5 exposure was associated with the CERAD score at autopsy, contributing to a growing body of evidence that PM2.5 affects β-amyloid deposition in the brain," the authors write. "More research is needed to establish causality for the association between PM2.5 and AD, including epidemiologic and mechanistic studies."

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Adults With Longest TV/Video Time Have Increased Risk for Nocturia

THURSDAY, Feb. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Adults with the longest television (TV) and/or video viewing time have an increased risk for nocturia, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in Neurourology and Urodynamics.

Junwei Wang, from Wenling Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University in Taizhou, China, and colleagues analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2011 to 2016 involving 13,294 adults aged 20 years and older to examine the correlation between TV and/or video viewing time and the occurrence of nocturia.

The researchers found that individuals in the group with the longest TV and/or video viewing time had a significantly (48 percent) increased risk for nocturia compared with those with the shortest TV and/or video viewing time in a multivariate analysis. In subgroup analyses, there were no significant differences seen in the interaction tests between TV and/or video viewing time and nocturia.

"Increasing public awareness of this potential health risk encourages individuals to be more mindful of their TV and/or video time," the authors write. "For individuals who engage in prolonged TV and/or video time, health care professionals can offer behavioral intervention recommendations, encouraging appropriate screen time management."

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Timing of CSF Biomarker Divergence for Alzheimer Disease, Normal Cognition Varies

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and other biomarkers differ for individuals with Alzheimer disease and cognitively normal controls, with the estimated times of divergence varying from 18 to six years before diagnosis, according to a study published in the Feb. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Jianping Jia, M.D., Ph.D., from Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, nested case-control study of Alzheimer disease biomarkers in cognitively normal individuals. At two- to three-year intervals, a subgroup of these participants underwent CSF testing, cognitive assessments, and brain imaging. A total of 648 participants in whom Alzheimer disease developed were matched with 648 participants with normal cognition.

Participants were followed for a median of 19.9 years. The researchers found that CSF and imaging biomarkers in the Alzheimer disease group diverged from those in the cognitively normal group a number of years before diagnosis: amyloid-beta (Aβ)42 at 18 years; ratio of Aβ42 to Aβ40 at 14 years; phosphorylated tau 181 at 11 years; total tau at 10 years; neurofilament light chain at nine years; hippocampal volume at eight years; and cognitive decline at six years. The changes in CSF biomarker levels in the Alzheimer disease group initially accelerated and then slowed as cognitive impairment progressed.

"The importance of the work by Jia et al. cannot be overstated," Richard Mayeux, M.D., from Columbia University in New York City, writes in an accompanying editorial. "Knowledge of the timing of these physiological events is critical to provide clinicians with useful starting points for prevention and therapeutic strategies."

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