A new USC study involving 8,500 children from across the country has revealed that a form of air pollution, largely the product of agricultural emissions, is linked to poor learning and memory performance in 9 and 10 year-olds. The specific component of fine particle air pollution (PM 2.5 ), ammonium nitrate, is also implicated in Alzheimer's and dementia risk in adults, suggesting that PM 2.
5 may cause neurocognitive harm across the lifespan. Ammonium nitrate forms when ammonia gas and nitric acid , produced by agricultural activities and fossil fuel combustion , respectively, react in the atmosphere. The findings appear in Environmental Health Perspectives .
"Our study highlights the need for more detailed research on particulate matter sources and chemical components," said senior author Megan Herting, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "It suggests that understanding these nuances is crucial for informing air quality regulations and understanding long-term neurocognitive effects." For the last several years, Herting has been working with data from the largest brain study across America, known as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, or ABCD, to understand how PM 2.
5 may affect the brain. PM 2.5 : A danger to the lungs PM 2.
5 , a key indicator of air quality, is a mixture of dust, soot, organic compounds and metals that come in a range of particle sizes less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. PM.