Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Despite the growing evidence of the effects of air pollution on cognitive function, there is scarce information about the acute effects of indoor air pollution on cognitive function among the working-age population, or whether the effects are observed even at low exposure levels. Our aim is to investigate whether cognitive function was associated with real-time indoor concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2). METHODS: Analysis of a prospective observational longitudinal study among 302 office workers in urban commercial buildings located in six countries (China, India, Mexico, Thailand, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom). For a 12-month period, indoor environmental data using commercial real-time monitors were collected, and ecologic momentary assessments of cognitive function using the Stroop color-word test and Addition-Subtraction test (ADD) were administered via a custom-developed mobile research app. RESULTS:Higher CO2 and PM2.5 indoor concentrations were significantly associated with decreased performance on the Stroop and ADD tests. Each interquartile (IQR) increase in PM2.5 (IQR=8.8 μg/m3) was associated with a 0.82% (95%CI: 0.42, 1.21) increase in Stroop response time, a 6.18% (95% CI: 2.08, 10.3) increase in Stroop interference time, a 0.7% (95% CI: -1.38, -0.01) decrease in Stroop throughput, a 0.66% (95% CI: -0.16, 1.49) increase in ADD response time, and a 1.51% (95% CI: -2.65, -0.37) decrease in ADD throughput. For CO2, each interquartile (IQR) increase (IQR=315ppm) was associated with a 0.85% (95% CI: 0.32, 1.39) increase in Stroop response time, a 7.88% (95% CI: 2.08, 13.86) increase in Stroop interference time, a 1.32% (95% CI: -2.3, -0.38) decrease in Stroop throughput, a 1.13% (95% CI: 0.18, 2.11) increase in ADD response time, and a 0.72% (95% CI: -2.11, 0.63) decrease in ADD throughput. CONCLUSIONS:We found that higher PM2.5 and lower ventilation rates are associated with acute effects on cognitive function. KEYWORDS: indoor air quality, cognitive function, exposure assessment
Published Version
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