DOUBTS - Dementia-friendly OUtdoor BuilT environmentS. Evidence among Outdoor air pollution, Artificial Light At Night (ALAN), Greenness and Dementia
Project DOUBTS research proposal starts for the assumption that the link between the morpho-typological and functional features of the urban environment are shifting the focus of Public Health from a “medical model”, to a “social model”. The interest in the role of environment on human health is increasing in recent years, especially in relation to climate change and environmental factors. It has been demonstrated that both genetics and lifestyles only partially explain the etiology of chronic diseases: environmental factors may play a relevant role in both etiology and progression.
The growing interest of these factors led to the implementation and development of several methodologies for the assessment of exposure, including the use of big data for assessment of multiple environmental factors (satellite-based dataset) generally made freely available to researchers. Considering the spread of digital information and the availability of large datasets, it is important to understand the role their role in environmental epidemiology and Public Health.
The research project general objective is to assess the relation with relevant and emerging environmental factors (Outdoor air pollution, Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) and Greenness) related to climate change factors, and risk of dementia. The aforementioned environmental factors could play a major role in the etiology of dementia, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive impairment of the cognitive system leading to mental and physical disability.
The research project specific objectives are:
- assessing and validating available environmental data to model cases and controls exposure to Outdoor air pollution, ALAN and Greenness associated to the etiology of the investigated diseases;
- testing the relevance of environmental pollutants and the availability of green spaces and infrastructures in modifying the risk of young-onset dementia in two Italian Provinces (Modena & Pavia) with established epidemiological and clinical expertise on these disorders;
- evaluating the role of Outdoor air pollution, ALAN and Greenness on disease progression testing the potential implications of the environmental factors on dementia. Natural cubic splines, in addition to conditional logistic regression models, will be used, stratifying for potential confounders such as education and socioeconomic status, and effect-modifiers such as age and sex, and disease subtypes.
DOUBTS will identify all cases of newly-diagnosed young-onset dementia during 2006-2022 among residents in the two provinces focusing on subjects with diagnosis before 65 years, referred as young-onset dementia, and a sex- and age-matched controls randomly selected from the general population. The exposure assessment to environmental factors will be performed through a geographic information system, considering the residential history of subjects.