Exposomic Approach to Dementia and Cognitive Ageing

Dear Colleagues,

The global burden of dementia and cognitive decline represents one of the most urgent public health challenges of our time. Environmental factors are increasingly recognized as key determinants in these conditions, yet our understanding of the ways in which complex environmental exposures impact cognitive aging and dementia remains limited. A growing body of evidence connects varied environmental exposures—including air pollution, urbanization, chemical contaminants, noise and light pollution, and climate-related stressors—to cognitive outcomes, highlighting the critical need for research into how these factors affect dementia risk across diverse populations.

The World Health Organization underscores environmental risks as significant contributors to non-communicable diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions. While factors such as air pollution, heavy metals, pesticides, and other environmental contaminants have shown associations with cognitive decline, the complexity of exposure pathways—especially in the context of combined or mixed exposures—poses ongoing challenges. Compounding these risks, extreme weather events linked to climate change increasingly threaten human health on a global scale, intensifying the need for research into how environmental crises impact brain health and dementia risk over the lifespan. These intertwined environmental crises call for an integrative research approach to uncover both the mechanisms at play and potential interventions to mitigate or modify these risk factors.

In response, an exposomic approach—one that systematically links external and internal exposures to cognitive health outcomes—emerges as particularly relevant. By capturing the totality of environmental exposures across the lifespan, the exposomic framework allows for an in-depth analysis of how varied, often simultaneous, exposures contribute to dementia and cognitive aging. This comprehensive approach opens avenues for identifying biomarkers, advancing causal inference, and developing targeted preventive interventions.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) seeks contributions that explore the environmental determinants of dementia and cognitive aging through an exposomic lens. We welcome original research, reviews, case studies, and methodological papers that address critical dimensions of environmental exposures and cognitive health. We invite submissions from a diverse array of fields, including epidemiology, exposure science, toxicology, neuroscience, and risk assessment, to foster interdisciplinary insights into this pressing public health issue.

Potential topics for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Air Pollution and Cognitive Health
   • Investigations of particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants on cognitive decline and neurodegenerative risk.
2. Noise and Light Pollution and Sleep Disturbance
   • Studies on how environmental noise and artificial light exposure impact sleep quality and cognitive aging.
3. Climate Change and Vulnerability to Cognitive Decline
   • Research into the effects of extreme temperatures, compounded weather events, and other climate-related stressors on brain health.
4. Urbanization, Green Spaces, and the Built Environment
   • Examination of urban density, food environments, and access to natural spaces in relation to cognitive function in aging populations.
5. Heavy Metals and Neurotoxicity
   • Analyses of the cognitive impacts associated with exposure to heavy metals, including lead, mercury, and cadmium.
6. Pesticides and Neurodegeneration
   • Studies on the relationship between pesticide exposure and the risk of dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
7. Chemical Mixtures and Combined Exposures
   • Research addressing how mixed environmental exposures (e.g., chemical cocktails) and any other emerging environmental exposures affect cognitive aging and neurological health.
8. Biological Mechanisms and Pathways
   • Exploration of neurobiological and molecular mechanisms through which environmental factors influence cognitive aging and neurodegeneration.
9. Innovative Omics and Biomarker Identification
   • Development of omics-based approaches (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) to identify biomarkers of exposure and early cognitive decline.
10. Machine Learning and Causal Inference in Environmental Health
    • Application of advanced computational methods to enhance causal inference and prediction of dementia risk associated with environmental exposures.

Through this Special Issue, we aim to deepen our collective understanding of how complex environmental exposures intersect with cognitive health across the lifespan. By contributing to this evolving field, your research will support the development of effective strategies to prevent cognitive decline, mitigate dementia risk, and enhance brain health worldwide.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Jessica Gong
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• dementia
• cognitive aging
• environmental determinants
• exposome
• air pollution
• noise pollution
• climate change
• urbanization
• green spaces
• neurotoxicity
• neurodegeneration
• epidemiology
• biomarkers
• health impact
• risk assessment
• risk management
• preventive interventions