Researchers from all over Canada came together and published an article in the prestigious British Journal, Lancet, revealing that a surprising environmental factor significantly increases your risk of developing dementia.
They concluded that an alarming 7-11% of all dementia cases could be attributed to this specific nuisance.
Can it be that eliminating this environmental factor could drop your risk of developing dementia by 7-11%? The authors of the study have found evidence to suggest just that.
The Canadian researchers started from the evidence of previous studies that show that living near traffic noise can have a seriously detrimental effect on our cognition.
For example, in 2005 researchers found that British, Dutch, and Spanish kids whose schools were close to airports and busy roads performed worse on reading comprehension and recognition memory than other children. This study also appeared in the Lancet.
Another study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health in 2016 concluded that increases in traffic noise volume led to a decline in people’s ability to complete tasks that required memory and executive function.
Executive function is scientist’s term for reasoning, memory, problem solving, planning, and other cognitive processes that help you plan and control your behavior.
Motivated by these studies, the Canadian researchers wondered whether people who lived near traffic noise were more likely to develop dementia, since dementia is essentially a deterioration in cognitive function.
Studying medical records of over 6 million people, they looked at incidence of dementia spectrum diseases and also proximity to busy roads.
Over these 11 years, 243,611 people were diagnosed with dementia, with those residing near traffic noise being more likely than those further away.
Compared to those living the furthest from major roads (at least one kilometer away), those who lived within 50 meters had a seven percent larger risk of developing dementia, a number that decreased to four percent for those between 50 and 100 meters, and two percent for those between 101 and 200 meters.
So is moving house your only option?
What if you’re already developed dementia, is blocking traffic noise going to be enough?
Answers: No and no!