Wildfires were once a rare occurrence, but as the climate becomes warmer and drier, they’ve become more common and more widespread.
Now, a study has shown they could be putting tens of millions of people at risk of dementia.
It found people exposed to wildfire pollution have an 18 percent higher risk of developing any type of dementia after just three years’ exposure.
While people exposed to pollution not caused by wildfires – such as that from manufacturing or cars – have just a one percent higher risk of dementia.
Long-term exposure to pollutants known as total fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a recognized risk factor for dementia, but less is known about how the tiny specs of pollution produced by wildfires – ash, carbon monoxide and dioxide, formaldehyde, volatile compounds and various other carcinogens – affect people’s brain.
Researchers studied the medical records of 1.2million people who had been exposed to wildfire pollution for an average of three years from 2008 to…
