One of the larger sources of harmful particulate air pollution is the use of solid fuel (wood, coal, and the like) for heating and cooking at home. This is much more prevalent in poor populations and regions than in wealthier parts of the world, but when it comes to risk a coal fireplace is a coal fireplace regardless of how wealthy one is. A large weight of evidence links exposure to particulate matter with an accelerated progression of age-related conditions and increased mortality. The more particulate matter, the worse the outcome. The primary mechanism is thought to be chronic inflammation resulting from the reaction of respiratory system tissues to inhaled particles.
In today's open access paper, researchers process epidemiological data from Chinese populations to quantify the harms done by exposure to solid fuel particulate matter in the home. The effect size is quite large. The fraction of people who age into their 60s without developing a chronic disease or sizable loss of cognitive function is 30% to 40% lower for those who use solid fuel. It is worth noting that fewer than 1 in 10 individuals in this population made it into their late 60s without developing some form of age-related disease or significant loss of function - a reminder that dysfunction and disability lies in all of our futures, if nothing is done to accelerate the development of rejuvenation therapies.
A total of 4,047 participants (2,347 men and 1,700 women with the average age of 67.05 ± 6.05 years) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011 were included in cross-sectional analyses. 2,517 participants at baseline were included in longitudinal analyses and were followed up in 2018. Successful aging was defined according to five components (without major diseases; without disability; high cognitive functioning; without depressive symptoms; active engagement with life).
In cross-sectional analyses, the participants who used solid fuel (coal or crop residue/wood) for cooking and heating had lower prevalence of successful aging than those who used clean fuel (solar energy, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or electricity). During the follow-up, 175 (6.95%) participants experienced successful aging. In the longitudinal analysis, after multivariable adjustment of age, sex and other risk factors, individuals who used solid fuel for cooking showed a lower ratio of successful aging, with corresponding odds ratio of 0.66. Consistently, individuals reported solid fuels use for heating were associated with lower odds ratios of successful aging (odds ratio = 0.59). In addition, a self-reported switch from clean to solid fuel or from solid fuel to clean were also significantly associated with successful aging.
View the full article at FightAging
