Fine dust causes dementia, a serious danger of fine dust

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, as of June 2018, the number of registered cars in Korea was 22.8 million, which means that there is one car for every 2.3 people. With the development of industry, words such as 'fine dust' and 'ultrafine dust' have become part of our daily lives.

What is fine dust?

Dust is particulate matter that floats or is blown down in the atmosphere. Natural dust includes dirt, plant pollen, salt from seawater, forest fires and volcanic ash, and man-made dust includes fossil fuels such as coal and oil, automobile exhaust, tire dust, and blowing dust from construction sites.

Dust is divided into fine dust and ultrafine dust according to the particle size. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines fine dust with a diameter of 10 micrometers (μm) or less as fine particulate matter (PM10), and ultrafine dust (PM2.5) with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less.

Dangers of fine dust

Studies have shown that children living in cities with high air pollution can lose up to 10% of their lung capacity. Among them, PM2.5 ultrafine particulate matter reduces IQ in children aged 3-9 years, increases the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, and reduces the volume of left white matter*. In addition, it is said that children born to mothers who are repeatedly exposed to ultrafine dust during pregnancy will have developmental disabilities and imperfect cognitive abilities. In fact, a study of children who lived in the air-polluted northern city of Mexico City for more than three years showed poor performance on psychomotor stability, motor coordination, and resonse time test metrics.

*Brain white matter: Nerve fibers that transmit information between gray matter and gray matter.

It is speculated that this phenomenon is due to a decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in children due to ultrafine particulate matter. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is an important substance for cognitive function in our brain, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor must be secreted normally to maintain the activity of neurons and synapses in the hippocampus** and cerebral cortex***.

Hippocampus: An organ in the human brain that plays an important role in memory storage and recall.

Cortex: The part of the gray matter that makes up the cerebral surface.

It is said that there are many parents who are raising young children who are thinking about "environmental immigration". We need to pay attention to fine dust management not only for our quality of life but also for future generations.