Baniassadi Amir, Yu Wanting, Travison Thomas, Day Ryan, Lipsitz Lewis, Manor Brad
Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2025 Mar 7;80(4). doi: 10.1093/gerona/glae286.
Climate change is expected to disrupt weather patterns across the world, exposing older adults to more intense and frequent periods of hot weather. Meanwhile, lab-based studies have established a causal relationship between ambient temperature and cognitive abilities, suggesting the expected rise in temperature may influence older adults' cognitive functioning. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether, and to what extent, the temperature variations in older adults' own homes-which unlike lab settings are under their control-influence their cognitive functioning. Our objective was to provide proof of concept that home ambient temperature influences self-reported ability to maintain attention in older adults.
We conducted a longitudinal observational study, continuously monitoring the home ambient temperature and self-reported difficulty keeping attention for 12 months in 47 of community-dwelling older adults living in Boston, Massachusetts.
We observed a U-shaped relationship between home ambient temperature at the time of assessment and the odds ratio (OR) of reporting difficulty keeping attention such that the OR was lowest between 20°C and 24°C and doubled when moving away from this range by 4°C in either direction.
Our results suggest that even under the current climate, a considerable portion of older adults encounter indoor temperatures detrimental to their cognitive abilities. Climate change may exacerbate this problem, particularly among low-income and underserved older adults. Addressing this issue in public health and housing policy is essential to building climate resiliency in this vulnerable population.
气候变化预计将扰乱全球气候模式，使老年人面临更强烈、更频繁的高温天气。与此同时，基于实验室的研究已经确定了环境温度与认知能力之间的因果关系，这表明预期的气温上升可能会影响老年人的认知功能。然而，尚不清楚老年人自己家中的温度变化（与实验室环境不同，家中温度在他们的控制之下）是否以及在多大程度上会影响他们的认知功能。我们的目标是提供概念证明，即家庭环境温度会影响老年人自我报告的注意力维持能力。
我们进行了一项纵向观察性研究，对马萨诸塞州波士顿市47名社区居住的老年人的家庭环境温度和自我报告的注意力难以集中情况进行了12个月的持续监测。
我们观察到评估时的家庭环境温度与报告注意力难以集中的比值比（OR）之间呈U形关系，即OR在20°C至24°C之间最低，当向任何一个方向偏离该范围4°C时，OR会翻倍。
我们的结果表明，即使在当前气候条件下，相当一部分老年人所面临的室内温度对其认知能力有害。气候变化可能会加剧这一问题，尤其是在低收入和服务不足的老年人中。在公共卫生和住房政策中解决这一问题对于增强这一弱势群体的气候适应能力至关重要。
