Associations Between Air Pollution Exposure and Empirically Derived Profiles of Cognitive Performance in Older Women

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Petkus, Andrew J.^{a; *} | Younan, Diana^b | Wang, Xinhui^a | Beavers, Daniel P.^c | Espeland, Mark A.^c | Gatz, Margaret^d | Gruenewald, Tara^e | Kaufman, Joel D.^f | Chui, Helena C.^a | Millstein, Joshua^b | Rapp, Stephen R.^g | Manson, JoAnn E.^h | Resnick, Susan M.ⁱ | Wellenius, Gregory A.^j | Whitsel, Eric A.^k | Widaman, Keith^l | Chen, Jiu-Chiuan^{a; b; *}

Affiliations: [a] University of Southern California, Department of Neurology, Los Angeles, CA, USA | [b] University of Southern California, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, USA | [c] Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Winston-Salem, NC, USA | [d] University of Southern California, Center for Economic and Social Research, Los Angeles, CA, USA | [e] Chapman University, Department of Psychology, Orange, CA, USA | [f] University of Washington, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA | [g] Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA | [h] Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA | [i] National Institute on Aging, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, Baltimore, MD, USA | [j] Boston University, Boston, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, MA, USA | [k] University of North Carolina, Departments of Epidemiology and Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA | [l] University of California, Riverside, Graduate School of Education, Riverside, CA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Andrew J. Petkus, PhD, University of Southern California, Department of Neurology, 1520 San Pablo St., Suite 3000, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Tel.: +1 323 442 8050; E-mail: petkus@usc.edu; Jiu-Chiuan Chen, MD, ScD, Departments of Preventive Medicine and Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, SSB 225P 2001 N. Soto Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Tel.: +1 323 442 2949; E-mail: jcchen@usc.edu.

Abstract: Background:Elucidating associations between exposures to ambient air pollutants and profiles of cognitive performance may provide insight into neurotoxic effects on the aging brain. Objective:We examined associations between empirically derived profiles of cognitive performance and residential concentrations of particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in older women. Method:Women (N = 2,142) from the Women’s Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging completed a neuropsychological assessment measuring attention, visuospatial, language, and episodic memory abilities. Average yearly concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2 were estimated at the participant’s addresses for the 3 years prior to the assessment. Latent profile structural equation models identified subgroups of women exhibiting similar profiles across tests. Multinomial regressions examined associations between exposures and latent profile classification, controlling for covariates. Result:Five latent profiles were identified: low performance across multiple domains (poor multi-domain; n = 282;13%), relatively poor verbal episodic memory (poor memory; n = 216; 10%), average performance across all domains (average multi-domain; n = 974; 45%), superior memory (n = 381; 18%), and superior attention (n = 332; 15%). Using women with average cognitive ability as the referent, higher PM2.5 (per interquartile range [IQR] = 3.64μg/m3) was associated with greater odds of being classified in the poor memory (OR = 1.29; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.10–1.52) or superior attention (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.10–1.53) profiles. NO2 (per IQR = 9.86 ppb) was associated with higher odds of being classified in the poor memory (OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.17–1.63) and lower odds of being classified with superior memory (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.67–0.97). Conclusion:Exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 are associated with patterns of cognitive performance characterized by worse verbal episodic memory relative to performance in other domains.

Keywords: Cognitive aging, latent class analysis, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, women

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-210518

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 1691-1707, 2021