Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) is considered one of the top five environmental health risks, according to the EPA. However, IAQ is often overlooked in discussions about senior health and wellness. For older adults, the air they breathe has a direct impact on their respiratory health, immune function, cognitive clarity, and overall quality of life.
From independent living to nursing homes, maintaining a heathy IAQ is critical for the safety and wellbeing of seniors. This article explores why seniors are more vulnerable to poor IAQ, how to identify common pollutants, and effective strategies for optimizing indoor environments.
Why Seniors Are More Vulnerable to Poor Air Quality
As people age, their bodies become more susceptible to the harmful effects of indoor pollutants due to weakened immune systems. Older adults often have reduced lung function, making it harder to cope with airborne contaminants. In fact, indoor air pollutants cause a measurable increase in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), resulting in a shorter and lower quality of life for seniors.
Poor air quality can aggravate chronic health conditions in seniors, including asthma, lung disease, COPD, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Deficient IAQ has been shown to increase risk of cognitive impairment, and high levels of particulate matter can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, high levels of CO2 can cause poor quality of sleep for older adults, raising the risk of cardiovascular disease, stress, and inflammation.
An unhealthy IAQ can also cause diseases to spread quickly among seniors. Airborne pathogens trigger over 30% of healthcare-associated infections, leading to billions of medical costs annually. During the first year of the pandemic, nursing home residents accounted for 15% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths, despite making up just 0.5% of the population.
Since seniors typically spend up to 95% of their time indoors, removing indoor air pollutants is critical to providing a healthy and comfortable living environment.
Common Indoor Air Pollutants
Indoor air pollutants come from a variety of everyday sources, and can build up without proper ventilation:
- Building materials and furnishings: Carpets, paints, adhesives, and wood products can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde.
- Cleaning products and air fresheners: Many cleaning products release harsh chemicals and synthetic fragrances.
- Cooking and combustion: Gas stoves, fireplaces, and furnaces produce carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).
- Moisture buildup: High humidity from showers, cooking, or even breathing encourages mold and dust mites.
- Occupants: People create dust and particulate matter (PM) from everyday activities, as well as exhaling carbon dioxide (CO₂), bacteria, and viruses.
How to Improve Indoor Air Quality for Seniors
Improving IAQ requires a multi-layered approach, including reducing pollution at the source, filtering the air and increasing ventilation.
Pollution Source Control
One approach to improving IAQ is reducing or eliminating the source of the pollution where possible. Senior living communities should switch to cleaning products that are fragrance-free and emit fewer VOCs. They should also opt for building materials and furnishings that do not contain formaldehyde. Frequent cleaning and dusting will also help remove particles from recirculating in the air.
Air Filtration
Air filtration is also key to removing airborne particles and improving air quality. Using filters rated MERV 13 or higher can trap smaller particles and help older adults with more sensitive lungs. However, filtration does not remove gaseous pollutants like CO2 or VOCs, which require ventilation. Filters should be replaced regularly, or they will increase ventilation costs and potentially damage the HVAC system.
Ventilation
The most important component of improving IAQ is ensuring proper ventilation. Since outdoor air has 2-5 times fewer pollutants than indoor air, ventilation helps to dilute indoor pollutants and reduce excess humidity.
Natural ventilation works when the weather is pleasant, but this can bring in pollutants and is not a year-round solution. Exhaust-only ventilation (such as localized kitchen and bathroom fans) creates negative pressure, which forces unfiltered air to enter the building through structural leaks.
Instead, the best strategy is a balanced ventilation system. This method allows senior living facilities to regularly exchange stale, polluted indoor air with fresh, filtered outdoor air. However, achieving the recommended six air changes per hour can be expensive in hot or cold weather.
How to Ventilate Energy-Efficiently
To provide balanced ventilation without raising energy costs, senior living facilities should consider using energy recovery ventilators (ERVs). An ERV is a system that provides ventilation in an energy-efficient manner by transferring heat and moisture between incoming and outgoing airstreams.
With ERVs, hot and humid outside air in the summer is precooled and dehumidified via the energy from outgoing cool air. In the winter, cold and dry outside air is preheated and humidified via the energy from outgoing warm air. Less energy is needed for conditioning and ventilation, and HVAC equipment can be downsized.
For senior living communities, this translates to lower energy bills without compromising indoor comfort. With RenewAire HE Series ERVs, facilities can reduce ventilation energy costs up to 65% and decrease ventilation heating and cooling loads up to 70%.
ERVs Help Improve IAQ
Indoor air quality is a foundational element of healthy aging. In senior living environments, where residents are particularly vulnerable to air-related health risks, improving IAQ should be as important as proper nutrition, medication management, and fall prevention.
To improve IAQ, senior living communities should eliminate pollution sources, and regularly ventilate with fresh, filtered air. With ERVs, facilities can increase ventilation to improve air quality without raising their energy costs.
Whether you’re planning a new build or retrofitting an existing property, contact RenewAire to learn more about the IAQ benefits of ERVs in your next senior living project.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why are seniors more vulnerable to poor air quality?
Seniors are more vulnerable to poor air quality for multiple reasons, including a weakening immune system, reduced lung capacity, chronic illnesses, and more time spent indoors. As people age, their immune system are less responsive and are less effective at fighting off airborne pathogens, bioaerosols, and respiratory infections. Seniors also have reduced lung function, which makes it harder for the lungs to clear inhaled pollutants.
Older adults are also more likely to suffer from pre-existing conditions and chronic illnesses, including COPD, asthma, heart disease, and diabetes. Poor air quality can aggravate these diseases, causing further health problems. And finally, seniors spend up to 95% of their time indoors, which is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air conditions. As a results, seniors are particularly at risk from poor air quality, which can cause a measurable increase in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
How does poor air quality affect cognitive health in seniors?
Because older adults spend the vast majority of their time indoors and possess less physiological resilience, they are uniquely vulnerable to the neurological effects of airborne pollutants.
In poorly ventilated senior living spaces, CO2 levels can build up quickly. High concentrations of CO2 act as a mild sedative, directly impairing executive function, decision-making, and complex problem-solving.
In seniors, long-term exposure to air pollutants affects cognition over time. This often manifests as sudden brain fog, increased confusion, lethargy, or difficulty following conversations during group activities. In addition, there’s a growing body of research that suggests a correlation between poor IAQ and dementia.
How can senior living facilities improve indoor air quality?
Senior living facilities can improve indoor air quality through a multi-layered approach, including reducing pollution at the source, filtering the air and increasing ventilation. To reduce pollution sources, facilities should use low-VOC cleaning products, avoid materials and furnishings containing formaldehyde, and perform regular duct cleaning.
To capture airborne pollutants, facilities should consider installing MERV 13 filters to capture microscopic virus carriers, pollen, and fine particulates. Regular filter inspection and replacement are also key to improving air quality and reducing strain on HVAC systems.
Increasing ventilation rates is also critical to improving indoor air quality. By regularly replacing polluted indoor air with fresh outdoor air, senior living facilities can expel contaminants and odors. In fact, health care facilities like nursing homes must adhere to ASHRAE Standard 170, which requires a minimum of 4 outdoor air changes per hour for residential common rooms.
What are the ventilation requirements for senior living facilities?
Senior living facilities are governed by different standards based on their level of care. Nursing homes are considered health care facilities and have strict ventilation requirements from ASHRAE Standard 170. Independent and assisted living facilities are classified under ASHRAE Standard 62.1, which applies to commercial and multi-family buildings. This is because these facilities typically do not provide health care services.
The CDC also recommends that facilities should maintain a minimum of 5 or more air changes per hour (ACH). For nursing facilities, this minimum can reach 10 air changes per hour in specialized rooms like bathrooms, laundry rooms, and food preparation facilities.
Achieving these air change rates with a traditional HVAC system can be cost-prohibitive, but with RenewAire ERVs these high air-exchange rates become sustainable. Our systems recover up to 70% of the energy from the exhaust air to pre-condition incoming fresh air. As a result, facilities can achieve healthy living standards without a massive energy penalty.