Wu Jianyong, Jackson Laura
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, hosted by US EPA, Office of Research and Development, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27711, USA.
US EPA, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27711, USA.
Earth (Basel). 2021 Feb 28;2(1):140-150. doi: 10.3390/earth2010009.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease and the most common form of dementia in older adults. Treatment of AD symptoms is very challenging and expensive. Appropriate diet as well as mental and physical activity may delay or reduce the occurrence of AD. It is unknown whether environmental factors offer potentially protective effects against the development of AD. We explored the possible beneficial effects of greenspace (trees and herbaceous cover) on the rate of AD in the mid-Atlantic US. Data for initial AD medical claims during 2011-2013 were obtained from Medicare records for 2999 ZIP codes. The percentages of land cover classes in each ZIP code were calculated based on high-resolution land cover imagery. Associations between AD and greenspace, blue space (water), and other variables were examined using zero-inflated Poisson models. The rate of AD was negatively associated with greenspace (for a greenspace increase of 10%, risk ratio (RR) = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89-0.94), and blue space (for a water area increase of 10%, RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.81-0.89). The inverse relationships between greenspace and the risk of AD held across season, gender, and race. The rate of AD was positively associated with the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (RR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.02-1.05 for an increase in PM2.5 of 1 μg/m). Our results suggest that greenspace may have protective effects for AD, although potential mechanisms are unclear and require further investigation.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）是一种慢性神经退行性疾病，也是老年人中最常见的痴呆形式。治疗AD症状极具挑战性且成本高昂。适当的饮食以及心理和身体活动可能会延缓或减少AD的发生。目前尚不清楚环境因素是否对AD的发展具有潜在的保护作用。我们探讨了绿地（树木和草本覆盖）对美国大西洋中部地区AD发病率的可能有益影响。2011 - 2013年期间AD初始医疗索赔数据来自2999个邮政编码区域的医疗保险记录。每个邮政编码区域的土地覆盖类别百分比是根据高分辨率土地覆盖图像计算得出的。使用零膨胀泊松模型检验了AD与绿地、蓝色空间（水）及其他变量之间的关联。AD发病率与绿地呈负相关（绿地增加10%，风险比（RR）= 0.91，95%置信区间（CI）：0.89 - 0.94），与蓝色空间也呈负相关（水域面积增加10%，RR = 0.85，95% CI：0.81 - 0.89）。绿地与AD风险之间的反向关系在不同季节、性别和种族中均成立。AD发病率与细颗粒物（PM2.5）浓度呈正相关（PM2.5每增加1 μg/m，RR = 1.03，95% CI：1.02 - 1.05）。我们的结果表明，绿地可能对AD具有保护作用，尽管潜在机制尚不清楚，需要进一步研究。
