Abstract The convergence of climate change, adverse environmental exposures, and rapid population aging necessitates an equity‐based paradigm shift in safeguarding brain health across the life course. Older adults, especially those in marginalized and low‐resource settings, face disproportionate exposure to air pollution, toxicants, and climate‐related hazards. Emerging evidence links these biophysical, social, and cultural vulnerabilities to cognitive decline and a heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs), underscoring the need to examine cumulative exposures across the life course. Exposome‐informed research integrating magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers with socioenvironmental contexts remains limited in underrepresented populations but offers opportunities to detect subclinical markers of environmental harm and illuminate mechanistic pathways of ADRDs. Thus, future studies must adopt equity‐centered approaches, inclusive recruitment, and community‐driven interventions to address systemic inequities and cumulative exposures. Embedding environmental justice within neuroscience will advance preventative public health policies that mitigate inequities and protect brain health during climate change. Highlights Marginalized communities remain underrepresented in brain health/ Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs) research. Toxic environmental exposures worsen inequities in brain health across the life course. Exposome‐informed neuroimaging may detect early neural markers of cognitive decline. Future equity‐centered exposome/neuroimaging work will inform brain health policy. Need for life course interventions to mitigate environmental risk factors of ADRDs.
Perry et al. (Sun,) studied this question.