A study published online in the Journal of Alzheimers Disease noted that in utero exposure to air pollution appears to be linked with poorer cognition later in life.

The longitudinal study noted that exposure to air pollution in early life seems to have a small yet detectable association with worse cognition from 11 to 70 years of age. The effect size, though, was small.

Investigators assessed data from 572 individuals in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 with information on lifetime residential history. Participants were subjected to the Moray House Test of cognitive ability at 11 years of age and again at 70, 76 and 79 years of age. A small association was evident between exposure to greater levels of air pollution in 1935, when participants were in utero, and worse cognition between age 11 years and 70 years… (Medscape)