How air pollution and heavy metals may raise Alzheimer's risk through heart health
Bayesian Statistical Learning for Robust and Generalizable Causal Inferences in Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Research
This project uses new statistical tools to untangle whether lifetime exposure to air pollution and metals raises the chance of Alzheimer's by affecting blood pressure and heart disease in older adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia University Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11262182 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you are in a long-term health study, your decades of exposure and health records could help researchers understand links between pollution, metals, heart conditions, and memory decline. The team will apply new Bayesian machine-learning methods that can handle multiple exposures and changing health measures over time. They will analyze data from two long-running U.S. cohorts that include Native American and Greater Boston participants to trace how hypertension and cardiovascular disease might mediate environmental harms. The researchers will also create user-friendly software so other scientists can apply these methods to study dementia causes.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are older adults with long-term health records or participants in large observational cohorts, especially those with documented air pollution or metal exposure histories and cardiovascular data.
Not a fit: People with advanced dementia, without relevant exposure or cardiovascular history, or those not represented in the analyzed cohorts are unlikely to see direct benefit from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could highlight environmental and heart-health pathways that can be targeted to prevent or reduce Alzheimer's risk.
How similar studies have performed: Previous epidemiology has linked air pollution and heart disease to dementia, but the specific Bayesian multi-exposure mediation methods proposed here are novel and not yet widely used.
Where this research is happening
New York, United States
- Columbia University Health Sciences — New York, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Valeri, Linda — Columbia University Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Valeri, Linda
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.