WCRAQ – Air Health Working Party, 23 February 2023
Time: 13:00 -14:30
Chair: Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, Chair of Air Health Working Party, Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology, University of Southampton
- Meeting protocol – Sally Cumner, Executive Director, WCRAQ
- Opening – Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield
- Introduction to Air Health – Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology, University of Southampton
- Presentation: Cognitive decline, dementia and air pollution – Professor Frank J Kelly PhD, FRSB, FRSC, FKC, FMedSci, Imperial College London
- Questions and answers/ debate
- Establish future actions for the Commission and Members – Professor 7Sir Stephen Holgate, Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology, University of Southampton
- Close – Barry Sheerman, MP for Huddersfield
What can you learn from Frank’s presentation?
- We all worry about growing old; air pollution can accelerate the rate of cognitive decline.
- Poor air quality is linked with dementia, the most significant cause of death in the UK.
- Not even the brain is protected from long-term exposure to air pollution.
‘Dementia is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, global challenge for health and social care in the 21st century. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) reviewed many studies. It concluded that it is likely that air pollution contributes to a decline in mental ability and dementia in older people.’– Frank Kelly, Imperial College London
