Association between indoor musty odors and cognitive impairment among older adults

Abstract

Indoor pollution has been a growing concern, especially about its potential effects on human health. Musty odors are a good indicator of indoor mold contamination and have been shown to be associated with numerous diseases, but their association with cognitive function in older adults is unclear. The study's data came from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. The self-reported indoor musty odors were adopted as the independent variable. The cognitive impairment was included as the dependent variable using the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. We employed logistic regression analyses to study the association between indoor musty odors and cognitive impairment. Additionally, stratified and interaction analyses were conducted to explore potential modifiers of this association. A total of 11,888 older adults (median age = 82.00 years) were included in this study. The study indicated that indoor musty odors were significantly associated with cognitive impairments (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.25, 1.57). In the stratified and interaction analysis, there was no significant modification effect existed for the indoor musty odors and cognitive impairment in the study subgroups. And the associations were robust in the sensitivity analyses. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential health risks associated with indoor musty odors and cognitive impairment among older adults. It also suggests the importance of concerns about indoor environment on older adults' health, especially with regard to biological pollutants.