Living in areas of high air pollution can lead to decreased cognitive function in older adults, according to new research presented in San Diego at The Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) 65th Annual Scientific Meeting.
This finding is based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Retirement Study.
The analysis was conducted by Jennifer Ailshire, PhD, a National Institute on Aging postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Biodemography and Population Health and the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California.
“As a result of age-related declines in health and functioning, older adults are particularly vulnerable to the hazards of exposure to unhealthy air,” Ailshire said. “Air pollution has been linked to increased cardiovascular and respiratory problems, and even premature death, in older populations, and there is emerging evidence that exposure to particulate air pollution may have adverse effects on brain health and functioning as well.”
This is the first study to show how exposure to air pollution influences cognitive function in a national sample of older men and women.
It suggests that fine air particulate matter – composed of particles that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller, thought to be sufficiently small that if inhaled they can deposit deep in the lung and possibly the brain – may be an important environmental risk factor for reduced cognitive function.
The study sample included 14,793 white, black, and Hispanic men and women aged 50 and older who participated in the 2004 Health and Retirement Study (a nationally representative survey of older adults).
Individual data were linked with data on 2004 annual average levels of fine air particulate matter from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality System monitors across the country. Cognitive function was measured on a scale of 1 to 35 and consisted of tests assessing word recall, knowledge, language, and orientation.
Ailshire discovered that those living in areas with high levels of fine air particulate matter scored poorer on the cognitive function tests. The association even remained after accounting for several factors, including age, race/ethnicity, education, smoking behavior, and respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.
Fine air particulate matter exposures ranged from 4.1 to 20.7 micrograms per cubic meter, and every ten point increase was associated with a 0.36 point drop in cognitive function score. In comparison, this effect was roughly equal to that of aging three years; among all study subjects, a one-year increase in age was associated with a drop 0.13 in cognitive function score.
GSA’s meeting – the country’s largest interdisciplinary conference in the field of aging – is taking place at the San Diego Convention Center from November 14 to 18.
An estimated 4,000 professionals are expected to attend and the program schedule contains more than 500 scientific sessions featuring research presented for the first time.
Ailshire’s presentation, “The Hazards of Bad Air: Fine Air Particulate Matter and Cognitive Function in Older U.S. Adults,” is taking place at 10 a.m. on Friday, November 16, in Exhibit Hall A of the Convention Center.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society – and its 5,400+ members – is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public.
Compared to the nation, a higher proportion of children in California are uninsured, one in every 10 children or more than 1.1 million in 2011.
More of California’s children have public health insurance and fewer through their parents’ employer. And, over the past three years, a decade of advances in California children’s public insurance enrollment has stalled, as coverage in Healthy Families (California’s children’s health insurance program) declined as a result of reductions in state government funding.
These are just a few of the findings in a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation developed by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) and Diringer and Associates that provides an overview of trends in children’s health insurance coverage and insurance programs in the state.
Other findings include:
“Our findings have direct relevance to the health reform issues covered during the Presidential campaign,” said Michael Cousineau, lead author of the report and associate professor in the departments of Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
“With full implementation of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act more certain, there are new opportunities for many of these children to gain coverage and, more importantly, access to care including immunizations, annual checkups, and care for acute and chronic health problems,” said Cousineau. “Even children of some small business employees might benefit since small employers are eligible for a subsidy to help provide insurance for their employees and their families.”
As many as 1 million uninsured children may be eligible for Medi-Cal or private coverage through the new California Health Benefits Exchange.
Not all children will be covered, however – undocumented immigrant children will not be eligible and will have to rely on safety net clinics and public hospitals such as the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center for care.
The report was published as part of the California HealthCare Foundation’s California Health Care Almanac, an online clearinghouse for key data and analysis examining California’s medical system.
For a copy of the study, go to http://www.chcf.org/publications/2012/11/childrens-health-coverage .
An international team, including an expert from the University of Exeter, has found evidence that adolescents who spend long periods engaged in certain sedentary activities are more likely to have low bone mineral content in parts of the body where it can be an indicator of the risk of developing osteoporosis.
In the research, published by PubMed on Nov. 15, the team found that studying put girls at particular risk, while for boys leisure Internet use posed the greatest threat.
Scientists found that participating in at least three hours of certain sports could significantly reduce the threat in girls.
The study found evidence of the benefits of high-intensity sports where the participant is on their feet, such as football, basketball, netball or running.
Scientists have previously studied the impact of an inactive lifestyle on problems such as obesity or heart defects, but this is one of the first studies analyzing the effects of different sedentary behaviors on bone health in the critical development period of adolescence.
“Clearly we are not telling girls not to study,” said Dr. Luis Gracia Marco of the University of Exeter, who led the research. “It is a fact of modern life that teenagers spend more time engaged in deskbound or sitting activities, but our research is one of the first to identify a connection between this behavior in adolescents and low levels of bone mass in key regions of the body.”
He added, “It is already well-known that an inactive lifestyle has implications for young people, such as obesity and heart diseases. Combined with that, our findings emphasize the need for exercise, and we hope it will give some focus for young people and their parents to ward off any health problems later in life.”
The research was carried out in collaboration with scientists from the University of Zaragoza, the University of Granada, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the University of São Paulo, Brazil. It was supported by the European community Sixth RTD Framework Program, as well as with a grant from Fundación Cuenca Villoro.
The research assessed the lifestyles of 359 Spanish adolescents participating in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Study. It examined bone mineral content in the femoral neck region of the hip, which is a critical area for diagnosing osteoporosis.
The research team looked at the impact of different types of sitting activity, including watching television and playing computer games.
The strongest connection between deskbound behavior and low bone mineral content was found in girls’ hips, which is where most fractures occur.
It was linked to study time, but regardless of how much time they spent studying, the risk was significantly reduced if they spent at least three hours each week participating in high-intensity upright sport.
Internet leisure use was found to negatively affect whole body bone mineral content in boys.
“More research is needed to establish exactly why there are differences between the two genders, and why these types of activity are particularly damaging to teenage boys and girls, but we can speculate that it is linked to how long they remain in the same position,” Dr. Gracia Marco said. “Our findings indicate that activities such as studying, where you spend a long time sitting down without getting to your feet, could be detrimental to bone health. Although development of osteoporosis is particularly linked to adolescence, this may also have implications for other groups of people, such as office workers.”
Children who learn how to swim at a young age are reaching many developmental milestones earlier than the norm.
Researchers from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research surveyed parents of 7,000 children under age 5 from Australia, New Zealand and the US over three years.
A further 180 children aged 3, 4 and 5 years have been involved in intensive testing, making it the world’s most comprehensive study into early-years swimming.
Lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen said the study shows young children who participate in early-years swimming achieve a wide range of skills earlier than the normal population.
“Many of these skills are those that help young children into the transition into formal learning contexts such as preschool or school,” said Jorgensen. “The research also found significant differences between the swimming cohort and non-swimmers regardless of socio-economic background. While the two higher socio-economic groups performed better than the lower two in testing, the four SES groups all performed better than the normal population.”
The researchers also found there were no gender differences between the research cohort and the normal population.
As well as achieving physical milestones faster, children also scored significantly better in visual-motor skills such as cutting paper, coloring in and drawing lines and shapes, and many mathematically-related tasks. Their oral expression was also better as well as in the general areas of literacy and numeracy.
“Many of these skills are highly valuable in other learning environments and will be of considerable benefit for young children as they transition into preschools and school,” Jorgensen said.
The study is a joint project between Griffith University, Kids Alive Swim Program and Swim Australia.