Multi-pollutant indoor air quality, ventilation, and cognitive status among nursing home residents with dementia: a pilot cross-sectional environmental assessment in Oklahoma, USA
1 Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Campus, Oklahoma City, USA
2 Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing, University of Oklahoma Health Campus, Oklahoma City, USA
3 Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, University of Norman, Norman, USA
4 School of Architecture & Design, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA
5 Engineering Pathways program, the Gallogly College of Engineering, University of Norman, Norman, USA
  • Volume
  • Citation
    Li H, Ding X, Cheng M, Gordon J, Shimul S, et al. Multi-pollutant indoor air quality, ventilation, and cognitive status among nursing home residents with dementia: a pilot cross-sectional environmental assessment in Oklahoma, USA. Int. J. Environ. Epidemiol. 2026(3):0012, https://doi.org/10.55092/ijee20260012. 
  • DOI
    10.55092/ijee20260012
  • Copyright
    Copyright2026 by the authors. Published by ELSP.
Abstract

Background: Older adults in nursing homes (NHs), particularly those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), spend most of their time indoors and may be vulnerable to poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Multi-pollutant IEQ in U.S. dementia care facilities remain limited. Objectives: To characterize indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort, and ventilation across residential and common rooms in three NHs serving residents with dementia, and to descriptively explore room-level environmental conditions with cognitive status. Methods: TSI AirAssure monitors were deployed in eight residential rooms and five common areas across three Oklahoma NHs (NH-A, NH-B, NH-C) in October 2023 and February 2024. Temperature, relative humidity (RH), CO2, PM2.5, PM10, total volatile organic compounds (tVOC), CO, NO2, and O3 were recorded at 1- or 15-minute intervals. Ventilation rates (air changes per hour, ACH) were estimated from CO2 decay curves. Residents’ cognitive status, depression scores, and clinical diagnoses were abstracted from the Minimum Data Set (MDS). Results: Temperature and RH generally met ASHRAE 55 guidelines, though the winter-monitored facility showed low-humidity exceedances. CO2 concentrations were predominantly below the 1000 ppm ASHRAE 62.1 threshold, although one residential room in NH-C exceeded this guideline 29.9% of the time. tVOC exceeded the Comité Européen action level (0.4 mg m−3) across 19.2%–100% of observations in every monitored location. PM2.5 and PM10 were generally low, with short duration spikes in several rooms in NH-B. Estimated ventilation rates ranged from 0.84 to 5.07 ACH. Conclusions: This pilot multi-facility assessment identifies IEQ concerns in Oklahoma NHs serving residents with dementia, particularly elevated tVOC levels, winter-season low humidity, and low estimated ventilation in selected rooms. The findings support targeted source control, humidity, ventilation, and motivate larger longitudinal studies to evaluate whether chronic indoor environmental exposures are related to cognitive or behavioral outcomes in this vulnerable population.

Keywords

indoor air quality; nursing homes; dementia; Alzheimer’s disease; ventilation; volatile organic compounds; environmental epidemiology

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