Read: Polluted air raises risk of dementia for city dwellers

The difference in air quality between suburbs and villages is associated with a higher likelihood of dementia, a study has suggested.

The research focused on a type of airborne pollution known as PM2.5, which consists of particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres.

For every extra microgram of PM2.5 per cubic metre, the risk of dementia increased by about 16 per cent. In the UK that could be the difference between living in a city suburb and a village.

In the city of Cambridge, for instance, the background rate of PM2.5 is about 10.5 micrograms, while in the largely rural local authority of South Cambridgeshire, it is about 9.9 micrograms, according to the Taskforce for Lung Health.

For the Derbyshire Dales the level is 6.6 micrograms, while in neighbouring Sheffield it is 7.4.

The average urban background level of PM2.5 in England and Wales was 7.9 micrograms last year, according to government figures, down from 9.9 micrograms a year earlier, with lockdown likely to have been responsible for much of the fall.

“We found that an increase of 1 microgram per cubic metre of exposure corresponded to a 16 per cent greater hazard of all-cause dementia. There was a similar association for Alzheimer’s-type dementia,” Rachel Shaffer of the University of Washington, who led the study, said.

For the latest study, the researchers drew on two sources of data — a historical record of air pollution levels in different parts of Seattle, and a database of health records stretching back to 1994 for 4,000 of the city’s residents.

Read the full story in The Times.

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