A University of Michigan study finds that cumulative lifetime exposure to lead substantially raises the risk of Alzheimer's disease and all-cause dementia in older Americans, with the highest bone lead levels nearly tripling Alzheimer's risk and more than doubling all-cause dementia risk.

Contextual background notes that many participants were born before 1980, when leaded gasoline and paints were more prevalent, leaving legacy lead in infrastructure that can re-enter the bloodstream decades later.

Bone lead is highlighted as a superior indicator of long-term exposure, while blood lead reflects only short-term exposure due to its ~30-day half-life.

Editorial notes indicate the article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor, the journal paper was peer-reviewed, and the original research is open access with collaborators from multiple institutions.

Key contributors include Dr. Kelly Bakulski and co-authors from University of Michigan, Yale, and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, with funding from the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The authors stress eliminating remaining lead sources—such as old pipes, paint, soil, and contaminated facilities—to prevent current and future generations from accumulating harmful lead exposure.

They advocate urgent public health actions to eliminate remaining lead sources in communities to reduce ongoing and future cumulative lead exposure.

Researchers emphasize protecting current and future generations from exposure by eradicating remaining community lead sources in old paint, pipes, contaminated soil, and industrial sites.

Publication details: Xin Wang et al., Exposure to lead and incidence of Alzheimer's disease and all-cause dementia in the United States, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 2026, DOI: 10.1002/alz.71075.

The peer-reviewed article is titled “Exposure to lead and incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and all-cause dementia in the United States,” published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, with DOI 10.1002/alz.71075.

Overall implication: mitigating legacy and ongoing lead exposure could substantially reduce dementia incidence and improve public health.

The study calls for policy actions and public health campaigns to identify and remove residual environmental lead to reduce neurocognitive risk and improve population health outcomes.