Household air pollution from solid fuel use as a dose-dependent risk factor for cognitive impairment in northern China

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 6187 - 13
• Main Authors: Tseng, Tzu-Wei Joy, Carter, Ellison, Yan, Li, Chan, Queenie, Elliott, Paul, Ezzati, Majid, Kelly, Frank, Schauer, James J., Wu, Yangfeng, Yang, Xudong, Zhao, Liancheng, Baumgartner, Jill
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.04.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/617/375/132; 704/844/4066; Aged; Air pollution; Air Pollution - analysis; Air Pollution - statistics & numerical data; Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis; Air Pollution, Indoor - statistics & numerical data; Black carbon; China - epidemiology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - epidemiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; Cooking; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Exposure; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Indoor air pollution; multidisciplinary; Older people; Particulate matter; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); China
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10074-6

The relationship between exposure to household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use and cognition remains poorly understood. Among 401 older adults in peri-urban northern China enrolled in the INTERMAP-China Prospective Study, we estimated the associations between exposure to HAP and z-standardized domain-specific and overall cognitive scores from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Interquartile range increases in exposures to fine particulate matter (53.2-µg/m 3 ) and black carbon (0.9-µg/m 3 ) were linearly associated with lower overall cognition [− 0.13 (95% confidence interval: − 0.22, − 0.04) and − 0.10 (− 0.19, − 0.01), respectively]. Using solid fuel indoors and greater intensity of its use were also associated with lower overall cognition (range of point estimates: − 0.13 to − 0.03), though confidence intervals included zero. Among individual cognitive domains, attention had the largest associations with most exposure measures. Our findings indicate that exposure to HAP may be a dose-dependent risk factor for cognitive impairment. As exposure to HAP remains pervasive in China and worldwide, reducing exposure through the promotion of less-polluting stoves and fuels may be a population-wide intervention strategy to lessen the burden of cognitive impairment.