Exposure to air pollution can harm cognitive ability as people age, a new study has claimed.
Chinese scientists found long-term exposure to pollution affected performance in verbal and maths tests.
The study was conducted using air quality data in China, which has recently intensified efforts to improve poisonous air in its cities.
The scientists carried out tests on 20,000 people over four years and found the negative impact increases with age, and particularly for men.
Scientists Xin Zhang, Xi Chen, and Xiaobo Zhang said in the report: “Most of the population in developing countries live in places with unsafe air.
“We provide evidence that polluted air may impede cognitive ability as people become older, especially for less educated men.
“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 World Health Organization claims 4.2million people are year die as a result of exposure to outdoor air pollution.
