研究稱PM2.5增加老年女性患癡呆癥風(fēng)險(xiǎn)

Older women living in places with high concentrations of fine particulate matter — the kind common in air pollution across China — may be at much greater risk of dementia, including dementia related to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study overseen by scientists in Southern California that was published this week.

本周發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)由南加州的科學(xué)家負(fù)責(zé)的研究表明，居住在細(xì)顆粒物濃度較高地區(qū)——中國(guó)各地大氣污染中常見(jiàn)的那種——的老年女性患癡呆癥的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)可能要大得多，包括和阿爾茨海默氏癥有關(guān)的癡呆癥。

The study, led by researchers at the University of Southern California, found that older women who lived in areas where the fine particulate matter exceeded limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency had an 81 percent greater chance of general cognitive decline and were 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, according to a report of the research on the university’s website.

該研究由南加州大學(xué)(University of Southern California)的研究人員主持?？窃谠摯髮W(xué)網(wǎng)站上的一份研究報(bào)告稱，這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，所居住地區(qū)的細(xì)顆粒物超過(guò)美國(guó)環(huán)境保護(hù)局(Environmental Protection Agency)設(shè)定上限的老年女性一般認(rèn)知功能下降和患癡呆癥的可能性分別高出81%和92%。

The study says air pollution could be responsible for up to 21 percent of dementia cases, if the findings translate to the general population, the report said.

該報(bào)告稱，研究認(rèn)為如果研究結(jié)果適用于普通人群，大氣污染可能要為高達(dá)21%的癡呆癥病例負(fù)責(zé)。

The paper was published Tuesday in Translational Psychiatry, a Nature journal.

研究論文周二發(fā)表在《自然》(Nature)旗下的期刊《轉(zhuǎn)化精神病學(xué)》(Translational Psychiatry)上。

The fine particulate matter is PM 2.5, which is 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter. It embeds deep in the lungs and penetrates into the bloodstream. It is the most damaging element of toxic air in China, which has some of the world’s most polluted cities. Most of China’s PM 2.5 comes from coal-fired plants, but a significant portion is generated by vehicles.

這種細(xì)顆粒物是PM 2.5，即直徑不大于2.5微米的顆粒物。它能夠深入肺部，并進(jìn)入血液。它是中國(guó)有毒空氣中危害最大的成分，這里有全球污染最為嚴(yán)重的城市。中國(guó)的PM 2.5大部分來(lái)自燃煤電廠，但車輛產(chǎn)生的PM 2.5也占很大比例。

The study is especially relevant to China in other ways. China has one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing populations of older adults. Ten percent of its 1.4 billion people are 65 years old or older, according to statistics from the World Bank.

這項(xiàng)研究和中國(guó)的相關(guān)性特別大還體現(xiàn)在其他方面。中國(guó)的老齡人口規(guī)模和增長(zhǎng)速度在全球名列前茅。根據(jù)世界銀行(World Bank)的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，中國(guó)14億人口中，65歲及以上者占10%。

The report on the University of Southern California website said PM 2.5 enters the body through the nose and can then embed in the brain.

南加州大學(xué)網(wǎng)站上的這份報(bào)告稱，PM 2.5會(huì)通過(guò)鼻子進(jìn)入人體，并且可能會(huì)進(jìn)入大腦。

“Cells in the brain treat these particles as invaders and react with inflammatory responses, which over the course of time, appear to exacerbate and promote Alzheimer’s disease,” said Prof. Caleb Finch, one of the authors of the study, according to the report. Professor Finch works at the U.S.C. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

報(bào)告稱，該研究論文的作者之一凱萊布·芬奇(Caleb Finch)博士表示，“大腦中的細(xì)胞會(huì)把這些顆粒物當(dāng)作入侵者，做出炎癥反應(yīng)。隨著時(shí)間的推移，炎癥反應(yīng)似乎會(huì)惡化，并促使阿爾茨海默氏癥的發(fā)展。”芬奇博士任職于南加州大學(xué)萊昂納德·戴維斯老年醫(yī)學(xué)學(xué)院(U.S.C. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology)。

“Although the link between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease is a new scientific frontier, we now have evidence that air pollution, like tobacco, is dangerous to the aging brain,” he added.

“盡管空氣污染和阿爾茨海默氏癥之間的聯(lián)系是一個(gè)新的科學(xué)前沿領(lǐng)域，但我們現(xiàn)在有證據(jù)證明，空氣污染就像煙草一樣，對(duì)不斷老化的大腦有害，”他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)。

Women with the genetic variant APOE4, which increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, were more likely to be affected by high levels of air pollution.

基因變異APOE4會(huì)增加患阿爾茨海默氏癥的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，攜帶該基因變異的女性受嚴(yán)重空氣污染影響的可能性更高。

A growing number of studies look at the long-term health effects of air pollution. Research done in the 1990s in Los Angeles and published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that children can suffer permanent lung damage from prolonged exposure to high levels of air pollution.

關(guān)注空氣污染對(duì)健康長(zhǎng)期影響的研究越來(lái)越多。90年代在洛杉磯進(jìn)行并發(fā)表在了《新英格蘭醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》(New England Journal of Medicine)上的研究表明，長(zhǎng)期暴露在嚴(yán)重空氣污染環(huán)境下的兒童可能會(huì)受到永久性的肺部損傷。

Columbia University researchers found that prenatal exposure to air pollution could result in children with greater anxiety, depression and attention-span disorders.

哥倫比亞大學(xué)(Columbia University)的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，產(chǎn)前暴露在空氣污染環(huán)境下的產(chǎn)婦生下的孩子可能會(huì)出現(xiàn)更嚴(yán)重的焦慮、抑郁和注意力障礙。

In February 2016, a group of scientists from the United States, Canada, China and India said they had found that air pollution caused more than 5.5 million premature deaths in 2013. Of those, 1.6 million were in China and 1.4 million in India.

2016年2月，來(lái)自美國(guó)、加拿大、中國(guó)和印度的一批科學(xué)家稱他們發(fā)現(xiàn)2013年，空氣污染導(dǎo)致逾550萬(wàn)人過(guò)早死亡。當(dāng)然，中國(guó)和印度分別占160萬(wàn)和140萬(wàn)。

Among Chinese, awareness of toxic air has soared. Years ago, some prominent Chinese internet personalities began publishing on their microblogs the PM 2.5 concentrations in Beijing that were being reported in real-time by a United States Embassy Twitter account. The attention generated by those posts and a particularly severe bout of toxic air in January 2013 compelled senior Communist Party officials to allow state news organizations to publish many more stories on air pollution.

中國(guó)民眾對(duì)有毒空氣的意識(shí)急劇增強(qiáng)。數(shù)年前，中國(guó)的一些網(wǎng)絡(luò)名人就開始在自己的微博上公布北京的PM 2.5濃度。相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)由美國(guó)大使館(United States Embassy)的Twitter賬號(hào)實(shí)時(shí)通報(bào)。那些帖子引發(fā)的關(guān)注和2013年1月爆發(fā)的一次特別嚴(yán)重的空氣污染，迫使共產(chǎn)黨高級(jí)官員允許官方新聞機(jī)構(gòu)發(fā)表更多有關(guān)空氣污染的報(bào)道。