2020 Winner: Christiane Spring, University of Bristol - “The Polluted Brain: Logistic regression analysis of the association between atmospheric pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in the South West of England”
I studied Geography for my BSc, graduating in 2020. I have always been fascinated by the interface between health and the environment. I was able to explore this passion in depth in my undergraduate dissertation, where I used logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between atmospheric pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in the South West of England. This research was inspired by an editorial I read in the British Medical Journal by Chris Griffiths in 2018, which outlined the recent, alarming evidence of a relationship between air pollution and cognitive decline.
I analysed a dataset provided by the South West Dementia Brain Bank, which was curated for this study in aid of scientific merit towards Alzheimer’s research. This dataset was the first of its kind to exist with patient-level spatial identifiers. In my research I drew significant associations between particulate matter exposure and Alzheimer’s diagnosis, which gave me an insight into the importance of the interaction between the environment and health outcomes. Since graduating I am now studying for an MSc in Public Health at Bristol University’s Department of Medicine.