Study finds air pollution could be hurting children's memory

Air pollution in China&#039;s Hunan Province

(Image credit: ChinaFotoPress/Stringer/Getty Images)

last updated 4 March 2015

Air pollution isn't just bad for your lungs — it could also be harming children's brain development.

A new study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that the memories of children who live in high-pollution areas develop more slowly. The researchers spent a year studying the working memory and inattentiveness of 2,700 children aged seven to 10 at 29 schools in Spain. They found that air pollution hurt the cognitive development of children whose schools were in high-pollution areas.

Children in low-pollution schools improved their working memory by 11.5 percent over the course of a year, while children in high-pollution areas only improved their working memory by 7.4 percent. The study notes that children aged six to 10 are "particularly vulnerable" to factors that could affect brain development.