BACKGROUND Growing epidemiological evidence suggests an adverse relationship between exposure to air pollutants and cognitive health, and this could be related to the effect of air pollution on vascular health. OBJECTIVE We aim to evaluate the association between air pollution exposure and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) marker of cerebral vascular burden, white matter hyperintensities (WMH). METHODS This cross-sectional analysis used data from the French Three-City Montpellier study. Randomly selected participants 65-80 years of age underwent an MRI examination to estimate their total and regional cerebral WMH volumes. Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and black carbon (BC) at the participants' residential address during the 5 years before the MRI examination was estimated with land use regression models. Multinomial and binomial logistic regression assessed the associations between exposure to each of the three pollutants and categories of total and lobar WMH volumes. RESULTS Participants' (n=582) median age at MRI was 70.7 years [interquartile range (IQR): 6.1], and 52% (n=300) were women. Median exposure to air pollution over the 5 years before MRI acquisition was 24.3 (IQR: 1.7) μg/m3 for PM2.5, 48.9 (14.6) μg/m3 for NO2, and 2.66 (0.60) 10-5/m for BC. We found no significant association between exposure to the three air pollutants and total WMH volume. We found that PM2.5 exposure was significantly associated with higher risk of temporal lobe WMH burden [odds ratio (OR) for an IQR increase=1.82 (95% confidence interval: 1.41, 2.36) for the second volume tercile, 2.04 (1.59, 2.61) for the third volume tercile, reference: first volume tercile]. Associations for other regional WMH volumes were inconsistent. CONCLUSION In this population-based study in older adults, PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased risk of high WMH volume in the temporal lobe, strengthening the evidence on PM2.5 adverse effect on the brain. Further studies looking at different markers of cerebrovascular damage are still needed to document the potential vascular effects of air pollution. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12231.

中文翻译：

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老年人的环境空气污染暴露和脑白质高信号：蒙彼利埃三城市研究的横断面分析。

背景越来越多的流行病学证据表明，接触空气污染物与认知健康之间存在不利关系，这可能与空气污染对血管健康的影响有关。目的 我们旨在评估空气污染暴露与脑血管负荷的磁共振成像 (MRI) 标志物白质高信号 (WMH) 之间的关联。方法 这项横断面分析使用了法国蒙彼利埃三城市研究的数据。随机选择的 65-80 岁参与者接受了 MRI 检查，以估计他们的总和局部脑 WMH 体积。通过土地利用回归模型估算 MRI 检查前 5 年内参与者居住地址的细颗粒物 (PM2.5)、二氧化氮 (NO2) 和黑碳 (BC) 暴露情况。多项式和二项式 Logistic 回归评估了三种污染物的暴露与总 WMH 量和脑叶 WMH 量类别之间的关联。结果 参与者 (n=582) MRI 中位年龄为 70.7 岁 [四分位距 (IQR)：6.1]，其中 52% (n=300) 为女性。在 MRI 采集之前的 5 年中，PM2.5 的空气污染中位暴露量为 24.3 (IQR：1.7) μg/m3，NO2 为 48.9 (14.6) μg/m3，BC 为 2.66 (0.60) 10-5/m3。我们发现接触三种空气污染物与 WMH 总量之间没有显着关联。我们发现 PM2.5 暴露与颞叶 WMH 负担较高的风险显着相关 [IQR 增加的比值比 (OR) = 1.82（95% 置信区间：1.41, 2.36），第二卷三分位数为 2.04（1.59， 2.61）第三卷三分位数，参考：第一卷三分位数]。其他地区 WMH 量的关联不一致。结论 在这项以老年人为基础的研究中，PM2.5 暴露与颞叶高 WMH 体积的风险增加相关，这强化了 PM2.5 对大脑不利影响的证据。仍需要进一步研究脑血管损伤的不同标志物，以记录空气污染对血管的潜在影响。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12231。