AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Cognitive Impacts of Exposure to Indoor Sources
Heather Schwartz-Narbonne, BOWEN DU, Marlie Tandoc, Michael Mack, Jeffrey Siegel, University of Toronto
Abstract Number: 630 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Exposures to indoor aerosols have been directly and indirectly linked to a variety of acute and chronic health outcomes. Despite these links, global indoor air quality has not improved appreciably in past decades, largely because of the lack of regulation, public education, and the temporal disconnect between exposures and health impacts. An alternative model for improving indoor air would focus on cognitive function impacts. The literature has several studies on cognitive impacts of indoor air pollutants, but most focus on CO2. This investigation focused specifically on essential oil diffusers, small scale ultrasonic humidifiers that atomize a mixture of water and essential oils and are used to produce a pleasant scent and also generate >1 mg/h of submicron aerosol. Test subjects (N=42) completed a computer-based higher-level cognitive battery in well-ventilated test offices. Each test subject was randomly assigned to a cell on the experimental matrix consisting of presence/absence of lemon-scented essential oil in an essential oil diffuser and presence/absence of a HEPA filtration unit in an operating a portable air cleaner. Temperature, relative humidity, CO2, formaldehyde, and ozone were all continuously monitored and were consistent between experimental conditions and not elevated over background. Concentrations of particles (0.3-10 µm) were elevated by approximately a factor of five over background for both conditions when there was essential oil in the diffuser, and slightly diminished in both cases when the portable air cleaner filtration unit was present. The presence of essential oil also greatly increased (by a factor of 3-10) the concentrations of d-limonene and β-pinene in the test office. Differences in subject responses to specific cognitive tasks were apparent at the different experimental test conditions suggesting that both particles and VOCs can impact high-level cognitive function.