People in Southern California with relatively high exposures to wildfire smoke over a decade also had significantly higher risks for dementia, a new study warns.

Wildfire smoke is no longer a one-off event,” said Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist. “This is about the health of all Americans.”

Exposure to the tiny pollutants emitted by wildfires may be increasing the older adult population’s odds of dementia diagnosis, a new study has found. Among more than 1.2 million people tracked

Now, in an 11-year study of more than 1.2 million Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California ages 60 and up, a group of doctors from around the country said that rates of dementia rose significantly among residents who had been frequently exposed to wildfire smoke over a three-year-long period.