Living close to high-traffic roadway raises dementia risk, study suggests
TORONTO — People who live in close proximity to high-traffic roadways appear to have a higher risk of dementia than those who live farther away, say researchers, suggesting that air pollution from vehicles may be a factor in the development of the neurological disease.
In a study published in this week’s Lancet, researchers found that Ontario residents who lived within 50 metres of a highway or major road had a seven per cent increased likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 metres away from such busy transportation routes.
That increased risk dropped to four per cent for those who lived 50 to 100 metres from major traffic, and to two per cent if they lived between 100 and 200 metres. At more than 200 metres there was no elevated risk of dementia, the study found.
“We found that the closer you lived to a major source of traffic, the higher the risk of dementia became,” co-author Dr. Ray Copes, chief of environmental and occupational health at Public Health Ontario, said Wednesday.