Exposure to lead and incidence of Alzheimer's disease and all‐cause dementia in the United States
We examined Medicare-linked National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on lead exposure and incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia. Lead exposure was assessed by blood lead and algorithm-estimated bone lead levels. High estimated patella lead was linked to increased all-cause dementia incidence. Dementia cases drop by 18% if all patella lead levels reduce to the 25<sup>th</sup> percentile. Cumulative lead exposure may raise dementia risk, highlighting its potential impact.
Authors
- Sung Kyun Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9981-6250)
- Kelly M. Bakulski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9605-6337)
- Roger L Albin
- Erika Walker
- Hiroko Dodge
- Henry Paulson
- Bhramar Mukherjee
- Xin Wang
Institutions
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (US)
- Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (US)
- Michigan Medicine (US)
- Yale New Haven Health System (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Alzheimer s & Dementia
- Published
- 2026-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71075
- Primary Topic
- Heavy Metal Exposure and Toxicity
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention