Emerging evidence indicates that exposure to environmental toxins such as air pollutants is detrimental to brain health and associated with cognitive decline and dementia. Air pollution was recently added to the list of modifiable risk factors for dementia by the Lancet commission, and a growing body of evidence from experimental studies shows that exposure to air pollutants impairs the brain. The JPND-funded ADAIR-project on Air Pollution and Alzheimer’s Disease had a special session at the Alzheimer Europe Conference in Helsinki on 16 October 2023, on the topic of "Air Pollution and Dementia". Presentations of ADAIR partners at this session focused on epidemiological evidence, omics approaches and data integration, as well as impacts of air pollution on immune cell signatures and new approaches in human in vitro modelling. The coordinator of ADAIR, Professor Katja Kanninen (pictured, furthest left), also gave a talk at the conference during the second plenary session, which looked at topics around brain health and prevention. Her talk was on "Environmental factors and air pollution as risk factors for dementia". As the ADAIR project concludes at the end of 2023, it is expected that results from the consortium will provide detailed insight into air pollution exposure effects on the brain.
