Associations and biological pathways between joint exposure to ambient air pollutants and brain disorders: a prospective cohort study.

Higher composite air pollution scores are linked to increased risks of brain, neurological, and psychiatric disorders in UK Biobank participants, with hazard ratios rising across quartiles.

• Why it matters: Understanding how combined exposure to multiple air pollutants affects brain health is crucial because existing evidence is limited and mechanisms remain unclear, hindering prevention strategies.
• What they did: The study constructed a composite air pollution score from five pollutants and used Cox regression models on UK Biobank data to examine associations, including exploratory mediation analyses to identify potential biomarkers.
• The result: Risks of brain disorders increased with higher APS, with each 12-unit increment raising hazard by 2.2%, and biomarkers related to metabolites, erythrocytes, liver, and kidneys may serve as pathway markers for these effects.