Exposure to air pollution has been linked to a “huge” decrease in brain function and is a direct cause of reduced mental capacity in people, according to a new study by an American scientific journal.
Researchers who studied a group of people living in China found those who breathed in toxic air saw drops in language and math test scores, the equivalent to losing a year of education, according to the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science’s Monday report.
“Polluted air can cause everyone to reduce their level of education by one year, which is huge,” Xi Chen, one of the researchers, told the Guardian. “But we know the effect is worse for the elderly, especially those over 64, and for men, and for those with low education. If we calculate [the loss] for those, it may be a few years of education.”
Researchers warned that bad air that caused these problems for people in China was also present in 95 percent of the world, including America’s suburbs and cities.
The Washington, D.C.,-based organization concluded the elderly are the most likely to be effected by this decline in mental health, and less-educated men saw the biggest declines among that group.
“The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions,” the PNAS study stated.
The report is the first to look at the effects of air quality on both males and females of all ages, not just school children, as previous ones have considered.
Among the 20,000 people exposed to air that included nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide as part of the China Family Panel Studies from 2010 to 2014, men saw greater drops in their ability to do math than women.
