Dementia rates in Miami Dade are among the highest in the country while Utah is on the low end. What is striking is that Utah has worse air quality, which is a known risk factor, yet still shows lower prevalence.
Why is that?
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Why is that?
Studies like this show that air quality is correlated with dementia in general, but we don’t know if that means air quality directly contributes to dementia or if air quality just happens to be correlated with something else that contributes to dementia.
As for Utah: They have lower rates of drinking and drug use and higher levels of physical fitness and outdoor activity, among other factors.
Utah’s average air quality also isn’t as bad as you hear about. The mountain geography can trap pollution on certain winter days, but the average air quality in Salt Lake City is surprisingly better than most metro areas with 500K or more people: https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/03/26/air-qu...
> In 2023, Salt Lake had the 11th-lowest average particulate matter levels, known as PM2.5, of 103 cities reviewed by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.