A recent study suggests that certain jobs, especially those requiring frequent spatial navigation, might be linked to lower chances of dying from Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Brigham explored this idea by analyzing national data on the occupations of people who had passed away, comparing Alzheimer’s-related deaths across 443 professions.
The study found that individuals working as taxi drivers and ambulance drivers had a notably lower risk of dying from Alzheimer’s disease compared to people in other professions.
For example, only about 1% of taxi drivers and less than 1% of ambulance drivers included in the data had Alzheimer’s listed as their cause of death. These results were published in the BMJ.
The lead researcher, Dr. Vishal Patel, explained the possible reason behind these findings. He noted that the part of the brain responsible for building mental maps—used for navigating our surroundings—is also linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Patel suggested that jobs requiring constant spatial thinking and decision-making, like taxi or ambulance driving, might help reduce the brain’s vulnerability to this disease.
To investigate further, the team analyzed data from the National Vital Statistics System, covering deaths between 2020 and 2022.
They looked at nearly 9 million records, considering not only the cause of death but also details like age, sex, race, ethnicity, education level, and the main job the person held during their lifetime.
Out of all occupations, taxi drivers and ambulance drivers had the lowest rates of death due to Alzheimer’s disease, even after adjusting for factors like age and education. For comparison, bus drivers, who follow fixed routes, had a much higher Alzheimer’s death rate of 3.1%.
Similarly, aircraft pilots, whose navigation relies heavily on instruments, showed a rate of 4.6%.
This suggests that real-time decision-making and mental navigation might play a protective role. Interestingly, this pattern was specific to Alzheimer’s disease and did not extend to other types of dementia.
Dr. Anupam Jena, another senior researcher, pointed out that the hippocampus—the brain area critical for navigation and memory—might undergo changes in people with these driving-intensive jobs. These changes could help explain the reduced Alzheimer’s death rates.
However, the study is observational, meaning it can’t prove that driving jobs directly protect against Alzheimer’s. There could be other explanations.
For instance, people who are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s may naturally avoid or leave these memory-intensive jobs. However, the researchers argued this is unlikely since Alzheimer’s symptoms typically appear after a person’s working years.
While the findings are not definitive, they open up new questions about how our work environments and daily activities influence brain health.
Dr. Jena emphasized that these results are a starting point for further exploration. They highlight the potential role of cognitive activities, like navigation, in possibly reducing Alzheimer’s risk.
In conclusion, while we can’t say for sure that navigating city streets as a taxi or ambulance driver directly prevents Alzheimer’s, the study raises important ideas about how certain mental challenges might keep the brain healthier for longer.
Further research could one day help us understand how to use this knowledge in everyday life.
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The research findings can be found in BMJ.
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