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Xu J, Zhao H, Zhang Y, Yang W, Wang X, Geng C, Li Y, Guo Y, Han B, Bai Z, Vedal S, Marshall JD. Reducing Indoor Particulate Air Pollution Improves Student Test Scores: A Randomized Double-Blind Crossover Study. Environ Sci Technol 2024. [PMID: 38647545 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c10372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Short-term exposure to air pollution is associated with a decline in cognitive function. Standardized test scores have been employed to evaluate the effects of air pollution exposure on cognitive performance. Few studies aimed to prove whether air pollution is responsible for reduced test scores; none have implemented a "gold-standard" method for assessing the association such as a randomized, double-blind intervention. This study used a "gold-standard" method─randomized, double-blind crossover─to assess whether reducing short-term indoor particle concentrations results in improved test scores in college students in Tianjin, China. Participants (n = 162) were randomly assigned to one of two similar classrooms and completed a standardized English test on two consecutive weekends. Air purifiers with active or sham (i.e., filter removed) particle filtration were placed in each classroom. The filtration mode was switched between the two test days. Linear mixed-effect models were used to evaluate the effect of the intervention mode on the test scores. The results show that air purification (i.e., reducing PM) was significantly associated with increases in the z score for combined (0.11 [95%CI: 0.02, 0.21]) and reading (0.11 [95%CI: 0.00, 0.22]) components. In conclusion, a short-term reduction in indoor particle concentration led to improved test scores in students, suggesting an improvement in cognitive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Hong Zhao
- College of Computer Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Yujuan Zhang
- Department of Family Planning, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, China
| | - Wen Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Xinhua Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Chunmei Geng
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Yan Li
- College of Computer Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Yun Guo
- College of Computer Science, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Bin Han
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
| | - Zhipeng Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, United States
| | - Sverre Vedal
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, United States
| | - Julian D Marshall
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
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