Publication: STAT

UCLA Expert: Beate Ritz: Professor, Fielding School of Public Health; Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Faculty, Center for Occupational & Environmental Health

Synopsis: Research by Ritz found a positive association between Parkinson’s risk and traffic-related air pollution.

UCLA News: In Parkinson’s, Ritz said, relevant exposures could occur anywhere from 5 to 20 years prior to disease onset. Yet by the time someone is 60, they may have lived in 10 different homes in three different cities, and historical air-quality data can be difficult, if not impossible, to find. Still, Ritz and her colleagues have managed to find at least a few countries with the quantity and quality of data they need. In Taiwan, the researchers found a positive association between Parkinson’s risk and traffic-related air pollution (nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide). In Denmark, the results were remarkably similar. “We’re harming populations in a way that we’re making them less resilient over their lifetime,” Ritz said. “We’re dealing with a long-term issue; over a lifetime, it adds up.”

Read more at STAT.