High air pollution can cause brain atrophy

Air pollution affects not only the respiratory system but also the brain.

Air pollution is one of the problems in many major cities in the world, causing many negative consequences for people's health, especially respiratory diseases.

Pollution in big cities is a very serious problem worldwide.

But according to a new study, air pollution can also directly affect the brain . Accordingly, the amount of "white matter" in the brain is at risk of atrophy, in which older men suffer the most.

The study was conducted by experts from Yale University (USA) and Peking University (Beijing, China). Experts found that men live in locations with high levels of air pollution, and at the same time the rate of degeneration of logical thinking and verbal reasoning is faster than that of women. The cause may be that the brain structure between the sexes is a bit different, making men more affected.

Air pollution causes the "white matter" in the brain to be atrophied.

More specifically, the team of researchers conducted research in China, which has cities with the highest concentrations of air pollution in the world. They performed assessments on 25,485 people, through math and grammar tests during the period from 2010 to 2014.

The results showed that before 30 years of age, there was no significant difference between the two sexes. But after this age, men often achieve higher results.

However, in the most polluted cities, the scores of older men fell sharply, especially in language tests.

According to Dr. Xi Chen - research director: "Having to live together and interact regularly with polluted air has made the logical and language ability of men worse. In general, the impact on men is much. than female ".

But Professor Barbara Maher - a researcher at the Center for Science at the University of Lancaster, expressed disagreement."The study shows the difference between the two sexes about the impact of air pollution on the amount of gray matter and white matter in the brain. But the assessment of exposure to pollution is too general" - Maher said.

Having to live together and be in constant contact with the polluted air has made the logic and language of men worse.

In response, researchers from Yale and Peking University also argued that their research took time and further research to confirm."The scope of this study is not enough. We will need more research in the future to solve."

The study was published in EconStor magazine.