Summary: | Introduction
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a disease caused by many factors including
occupational and environmental factors. Secondhand smoke (SHS) can affect
cognitive function. However, there is limited recent epidemiological research on
how SHS and occupational factors affect AD in Zhejiang province.
Methods
We established a cohort of an AD high-risk population. In 2018, a cohort of
1742 elderly aged ≥60 years was established. In 2020, the cohort was followed up,
and a total of 1545 people participated in the two surveys. Data collection included
demographic and economic information such as age, gender, occupation, education
level etc., and relative health behavior information such as smoking, drinking
and tea drinking, etc. Basic physical examination data included height, weight,
blood pressure, etc. At the same time, related cognitive status was assessed. Cox
proportional hazards regression models, both unadjusted and adjusted models,
were used to determine associations between cohort characteristics and AD.
Results
The results showed that SHS exposure and occupational characteristics
were associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairments in seniors.
Subgroups who used to work as blue-collar workers, who never worked, who
kept standing for most of the time at work, and who were engaged in hard physical
labor prior to retirement, had high incidence rates of AD.
Conclusions
It was revealed that SHS, standing for most of the time and hard
physical labor were associated risk factors of AD among seniors, compared with
white-collar work. We recommend that the government establish a community
supervisory mechanism to persuade smokers to quit or control smoking.
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