A study by researchers at Mass General Brigham Hospital in the US, conducted across more than 440 occupations, found that taxi and ambulance drivers have lower rates of death from Alzheimer’s.

The research, published in the journal BMJ, raises the possibility that tasks that require frequent spatial processingsuch as calculating a route or the best way to navigate, could lead to lower death rates from Alzheimer’s disease.

“The same part of the brain involved in creating cognitive spatial maps, which we use to navigate the world around us, is also involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” explains the study’s first author, Vishal Patel, MD, a resident in the Department of Surgery at American Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The investigation

The researchers analyzed data from the US National Vital Statistics System on deaths of adults from 443 different occupations between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022. In addition to occupation, they also looked at sociodemographic information, including age, gender, ethnicity and educational level.

Of the nearly nine million people included in the study, the 3.88% died of Alzheimer’s disease.

Among taxi drivers, 1.03% died of Alzheimer’s, while among ambulance drivers the figure was 0.74%.

After adjusting the data, it was found that ambulance drivers (0.91%) and taxi drivers (1.03%) had the lowest rate of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease of all the occupations examined. In contrast, this trend was not observed in other transport-related occupations, which use predetermined routes and rely less on spatial processing, such as bus drivers (3.11%) or airplane pilots (4.57%). Furthermore, this trend was not observed for other types of dementia.

The authors note that this is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn. In addition, they acknowledge limitations, such as that people at higher risk of Alzheimer’s may be less likely to remain in driving occupations that require good memory, although Alzheimer’s symptoms typically develop after working age.

“These findings suggest that it is important to consider how occupations may affect the risk of death from Alzheimer’s disease and whether any cognitive activities may be potentially preventive,” notes the study’s lead author, Anupam Jena, a physician in the Department of of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.