The researchers concluded that living near a road increases the risk of Parkinson's disease, as well as several other diseases, while green spaces reduce the likelihood of disease.
The aging population in developed countries is forcing the world to talk more actively about diseases that often begin to make themselves felt in old years. We are talking, in particular, about Alzheimer's disease, which is usually found in people over 65 years of age. Back in 2006, the global incidence was estimated at 26 million. The number of people with Alzheimer's is projected to quadruple by 2050.
Scientists around the world are trying to find factors that contribute to the development of such diseases. Now experts from the University of British Columbia in Canada have tried to answer some questions. The research results were published in Environmental Health, the Russian-language review was provided by Gazeta. Ru.
Experts examined the indicators of 678 thousand people, whose age was 45-84 years. Their health data was compared with living conditions: it was about the level of air pollution, noise indicators, as well as the green spaces growing nearby.
As part of the observations, cases of various diseases were recorded, in particular, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, as well as multiple sclerosis.
The analysis showed that living less than 50 meters from the road or less than 150 meters from the highway has an increased risk of developing a number of diseases. When it comes to Parkinson's disease and non-Alzheimer's dementia, living near the road led to an increased risk of 7% and 14%, respectively, compared to those living in other settings. In the case of Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, scientists are reluctant to judge whether there is a connection due to the limited amount of information.
However, experts are satisfied with such results. According to them, the data obtained was the first to clearly demonstrate the connection between highways and the development of neurological diseases. An important finding was also that the presence of green spaces reduced the risk of the diseases discussed above.
