An analysis of studies incorporating data from almost 30 million people has highlighted the role that air pollution – including that coming from car exhaust
« Further analysis revealed that while exposure to these pollutants increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the effect seemed stronger for vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. Around 180,000 people in the UK are thought to be affected by this type of dementia. However, as there were only a small number of studies that examined this difference, the researchers did not class it as statistically significant.«
More specifically:
« Further analysis revealed that while exposure to these pollutants increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the effect seemed stronger for vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. Around 180,000 people in the UK are thought to be affected by this type of dementia. However, as there were only a small number of studies that examined this difference, the researchers did not class it as statistically significant.«
It isn’t the number-of-studies that makes it insignficant or significant:
it is the number-of-lives-altered-by-the-condition, & the degree-of-alteration, which combine to make it either insignificant or significant.
I think that if that quote rightly represents what they did, they may be guilty of malpractice “science”.
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