Cognitive function and short-term exposure to residential air temperature: A repeated measures study based on spatiotemporal estimates of temperature
Open accessAbstract
Few studies have examined the association between ambient temperature and cognitive function, or used exposure to temperature at a given address instead of a single stationary monitor. The existing literature on the temperature-cognition relationship has mostly consisted of experimental studies that involve a small sample size and a few specific temperature values. In the current study, we examined the association between residential air temperature and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, a quantitative measurement of cognitive function, in a longitudinal cohort of elderly men. Residential air temperature was estimated by a novel spatiotemporal approach that incorporates satellite remote sensing, land use regression, meteorological variables and spatial smoothing in the Northeastern USA. We then applied logistic regression generalized estimating equations to examine the relationship between residential temperature (range: -5.8-25.7°C), and the risk of low MMSE scores (MMSE scores ≤25) among 594 elderly men (1085 visits in total) from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study, 2000-2008. Sensitivity analysis on visits wherein subjects lived within 30km of the clinic center in Massachusetts or aged ≥70 years was also evaluated. A statistically significant, U-shaped association between residential air temperature and low MMSE score (p-value=0.036) was observed. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the estimated effect remains among individuals aged ≥70 years. In conclusion, the data suggest that risk of low MMSE scores is highest when temperature is either high or low, and lowest when ambient temperature is approximately within 10-15°C in a cohort of elderly men. Further research is needed to confirm our findings and assess generalizability to other populations.
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Health effects of extreme heat events can be experienced in the general population, resulting in subclinical symptoms, like cognitive function deficits.
“Yet the health effects of extreme heat events can be experienced in the general population, resulting in subclinical symptoms, like cognitive function deficits [16,21,26].”
From Reduced cognitive function during a heat wave among residents of non-air-conditioned buildings: An observational study of young adults in the summer of 2016 (2018) · cites this paper as [16]
The Discussion and conclusions reports an association between higher residential air temperature and poorer cognitive test scores in a cohort of elderly men. It does not establish that extreme heat events cause cognitive deficits in the general population; the paper cautions against generalizing its findings to other populations. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA U-shaped response curve has been utilized to describe how exposures to extremely low or high temperatures result in decreased cognitive performance.
“A U-shaped response curve has been utilized to describe how exposures to extremely low or high temperatures result in decreased cognitive performance [16,21,27].”
From Reduced cognitive function during a heat wave among residents of non-air-conditioned buildings: An observational study of young adults in the summer of 2016 (2018) · cites this paper as [16]
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Temperature and mental health: Evidence from the spectrum of mental health outcomes
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“Previous studies have reported negative associations between temperature and cognitive function among Japanese [45] and Americans [46], while another study from Massachusetts, USA reported an U-shaped association with cognitive function and identified minimum risk at 10–15 ◦C [47].”
Result
- Authors
- Dai, L., Kloog, I., Coull, B. A., Sparrow, D., Spiro, A., Vokonas, P. S., & Schwartz, J. D.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dai, Lingzhen
- Venue
- Environmental Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 150
- Pages
- 446-451
- ISSN
- 0013-9351 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5003630
- OpenAlex
- W2460100331
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 1.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Environmental Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES000002, ES015172-01)
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (RD-834798-01)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Keywords
- cognitive function, Mini-Mental State Examination, land use regression, satellite remote sensing, older men, cold exposure, Normative Aging Study
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Cognition, Housing, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Temperature, Spatio-Temporal Analysis
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