Studies of air pollution and cognition often rely on measures from outdoor environments. Many individuals in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to indoor air pollution from combustion of solid cooking fuels. Little is known about how solid cooking fuel use affects cognitive decline over time. This study uses data from the 2012, 2015, and 2018 Mexican Health and Aging Study (n = 14 245, age 50+) to assess how use of wood or coal for cooking fuel affects cognition of older adults relative to use of gas. It uses latent change score modeling to determine how using solid cooking fuel affected performance in Verbal Learning, Verbal Recall, Visual Scanning, and Verbal Fluency. Solid cooking fuel was used by 17% of the full sample but was more common in rural areas. Solid fuel users also had lower socioeconomic status. Compared to those using gas, solid fuel users had lower baseline scores and faster decline in Verbal Learning (β = −0.18, p < 0.05), Visual Scanning (β = −1.00, p < 0.001), and Verbal Fluency (β = −0.33, p < 0.001). Indoor air pollution from solid cooking fuels may represent a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline. Policy should focus on facilitating access to clean cooking fuels.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥老年人固体烹饪燃料的使用和认知能力下降

对空气污染和认知的研究通常依赖于室外环境的测量。低收入和中等收入国家的许多人因燃烧固体烹饪燃料而受到室内空气污染。关于固体烹饪燃料的使用如何随着时间的推移影响认知能力下降，我们知之甚少。本研究使用 2012、2015 和 2018 年墨西哥健康与老龄化研究 ( n = 14 245，50 岁以上）评估使用木材或煤炭作为烹饪燃料如何影响老年人相对于燃气使用的认知。它使用潜在变化分数建模来确定使用固体烹饪燃料如何影响语言学习、语言回忆、视觉扫描和语言流畅性的表现。17% 的样本使用固体烹饪燃料，但在农村地区更为常见。固体燃料用户的社会经济地位也较低。与使用汽油的人相比，固体燃料使用者的基线分数较低，语言学习 ( β  = -0.18, p  < 0.05)、视觉扫描 ( β  = -1.00, p  < 0.001) 和语言流利度 ( β  = - 0.33, p < 0.001)。固体烹饪燃料造成的室内空气污染可能是认知能力下降的一个可改变的风险因素。政策应侧重于促进获得清洁烹饪燃料。