A landmark analysis of over 12,800 participants across 13 Latin American countries reveals that environmental factors can overwhelm genetic advantages in protecting against cognitive decline. The ReDLat2 initiative, published in Nature Medicine, demonstrates that the cumulative environmental exposome—including air pollution, socioeconomic disadvantage, and limited education—acts as a stronger predictor of dementia risk than genetic risk factors alone.
Researchers led by Dr. Agustín Ibáñez at Trinity College Dublin found that individuals with protective APOE genetic variants still experienced accelerated brain aging when exposed to multiple environmental stressors. Air pollution, particularly PM2.5 particulates combined with poverty, showed the strongest association with cognitive decline. The findings underscore the critical role of environmental justice in preventing neurological disease and suggest that targeted policy interventions addressing air quality and socioeconomic conditions could prevent thousands of dementia cases across vulnerable populations.
Read the full article on GMJ Newsroom.
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