Sara Dubowsky Adar

About

Sara Dubowsky Adar, ScD, MHS, is a Professor of Epidemiology and Global Public Health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research utilizes modern principles of epidemiology, environmental health, exposure science, and biostatistics to characterize the impacts of environmental hazards on human health. Her primary focus is on the effects of air pollution and noise on healthy aging, with additional interests in global health, extreme weather events, and intervention strategies to improve health. She currently leads several large cohort studies examining the impacts of exposures on cognitive aging and dementia. Dr. Adar's educational background includes a Doctor of Science in Environmental Epidemiology from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, obtained in 2005; a Master of Health Science in Environmental Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, earned in 1998; and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996. Her research on how environments influence aging is cross-disciplinary, involving collaborations with environmental epidemiologists, climatologists, exposure scientists, economists, and demographers. She has contributed to understanding the relationship between air pollution, noise, and various health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and cognitive decline. In addition to her research, Dr. Adar serves as an Associate Editor at Environmental Health Perspectives and…

Research topics

• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Environmental health
• Internal medicine
• Demography
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Pathology
• Audiology

Selected publications

• Exposure to Air Pollution in Relation to Risk of Dementia and Related Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature

  Environmental Health Perspectives · 2021 · 213 citations

  BACKGROUND: Dementia is a devastating neurologic condition that is common in older adults. We previously reviewed the epidemiological evidence examining the hypothesis that long-term exposure to air pollution affects dementia risk. Since then, the evidence base has expanded rapidly. OBJECTIVES: With this update, we collectively review new and previously identified epidemiological studies on air pollution and late-life cognitive health, highlighting new developments and critically discussing the…

  DOI

• Comparison of Particulate Air Pollution From Different Emission Sources and Incident Dementia in the US

  JAMA Internal Medicine · 2023 · 143 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Importance: Emerging evidence indicates that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution may increase dementia risk in older adults. Although this evidence suggests opportunities for intervention, little is known about the relative importance of PM2.5 from different emission sources. Objective: To examine associations of long-term exposure of total and source-specific PM2.5 with incident dementia in older adults. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Environmental Predictors of Co…

  DOI

• Long‐term community noise exposure in relation to dementia, cognition, and cognitive decline in older adults

  Alzheimer s & Dementia · 2020 · 96 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Abstract Introduction Exposure to noise might influence risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. Methods Participants of the Chicago Health and Aging Project (≥65 years) underwent triennial cognitive assessments. For the 5 years preceding each assessment, we estimated 5227 participants’ residential level of noise from the community using a spatial prediction model, and estimated associations of noise level with prevalent mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD, cognitive performance, and rate o…

  DOI

• Fine Particulate Matter and Dementia Incidence in the Adult Changes in Thought Study

  Environmental Health Perspectives · 2021 · 90 citations

  BACKGROUND: Air pollution may be associated with elevated dementia risk. Prior research has limitations that may affect reliability, and no studies have evaluated this question in a population-based cohort of men and women in the United States. OBJECTIVES: ) exposure and hazard of all-cause dementia. An additional goal was to understand how to adequately control for age and calendar-time-related confounding through choice of the time axis and covariate adjustment. METHODS: exposure and time to e…

  PublisherDOI

• Long-term air pollution exposure and incident physical disability in older US adults: a cohort study

  The Lancet Healthy Longevity · 2024-09-26 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Disability is a key marker of overall physical health in older adults and is often preceded by chronic disease. Although air pollution is a well recognised risk factor for multiple chronic diseases, its association with physical disability has not been well characterised. We investigated the associations of air pollutants with physical disability in a large cohort representative of older adults in the USA. METHODS: ) concentrations at participant residences before each survey using s…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Characterizing the Respiratory Microbiome Via a Novel, Non-Invasive Technique

  NIH · $426k · 2016–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Joel D. Kaufman

  University of Washington

  105 shared

• Adam A. Szpiro

  University of Washington

  71 shared

• Lianne Sheppard

  University of Washington

  51 shared

• Jennifer D’Souza

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  39 shared

• Ana V. Diez Roux

  Drexel University

  33 shared

• Kenneth M. Langa

  Health Services Research & Development

  33 shared

• Timothy V. Larson

  University of Washington

  32 shared

• Jennifer Weuve

  Boston University

  29 shared

Awards & honors

• Sandra A. Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular E…
• Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Michigan…

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