Abstract
Cognitive performance varies by socioeconomic status (SES) yet reasons for differences remain unclear. We harmonized data from two nationally-representative surveys to investigate whether indoor air pollution (IAP) mediates SES-cognition associations. We include 25,926 and 14,795 Longitudinal Aging Study in India and Mexican Health and Aging Study respondents, respectively. Using KHB mediation analysis, we examined if IAP mediated associations between cognition (based on seven comparable tasks) and SES (wealth and per capita consumption) while adjusting for other housing characteristics. Low SES, poor housing quality, and IAP were associated with poor cognition in both cohorts. Mediation analyses demonstrated that IAP explained 5–10% of associations between wealth and cognition and approximately 15% of associations between consumption and cognition in India and Mexico. SES, housing characteristics, and IAP are associated with cognition in India and Mexico. IAP accounted for a portion of the SES-cognition association, independent of other housing characteristics.