Background: Air pollution control is necessary to decrease the burden on older adults with cognitive impairment, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Objective: This study retrospectively examined the effect of cumulative exposure to air pollution, including NO2, SO2, CO, fine particulate matter (PM)10, PM2.5, and O3, on cognitive function in older individuals.
Methods: Community-dwelling older adults who underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from 2007 to 2018 were included in the analyses. We excluded older individuals diagnosed with dementia at baseline, while those who had completed more than two MMSE tests were included in the longitudinal analyses. Baseline MMSE and changes in MMSE scores were analyzed according to 5-year average concentrations of the district-level air pollutants, after controlling for covariates associated with cognitive decline in older adults.
Results: In total, 884,053 (74.3±7.1 years; 64.1% females) and 398,889 (72.3±6.4 years; 67.0% females) older individuals were included in the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, respectively. Older individuals exposed to higher levels of NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10 showed lower baseline MMSE scores. During follow-up, exposure to higher levels of NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10 was associated with greater decreases in MMSE scores in older individuals; for O3, the opposite pattern was observed.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that exposure to high levels of air pollutants can worsen the cognitive performance of older adults without dementia. Efforts to reduce air pollution in LMICs that have similar levels of pollutants to South Korea are necessary to reduce the burden on older adults with cognitive impairment.
Keywords: Air pollution; South Korea; cognition; cognitive decline; older adults.