Socioeconomic Deprivation, Genetic Risk, and Incident Dementia

Socioeconomic factors and genetic predisposition are established risk factors for dementia. It remains unclear whether associations of socioeconomic deprivation with dementia incidence are modified by genetic risk.

Participants in the UK Biobank aged ≥60 years and of European ancestry without dementia at baseline (2006-2010) were eligible for the analysis, with the main exposures area-level deprivation based on the Townsend Deprivation Index and individual-level socioeconomic deprivation based on car and home ownership, housing type and income, and polygenic risk of dementia. Dementia was ascertained in hospital and death records. Analysis was conducted in 2021.

In this cohort study, 196,368 participants (mean [SD] age=64.1 [2.9] years, 52.7% female) were followed up for 1,545,316 person-years (median [IQR] follow-up=8.0 [7.4-8.6] years). In high genetic risk and high area-level deprivation, 1.71% (95% CI=1.44, 2.01) developed dementia compared with 0.56% (95% CI=0.48, 0.65) in low genetic risk and low-to-moderate area-level deprivation (hazard ratio=2.31; 95% CI=1.84, 2.91). In high genetic risk and high individual-level deprivation, 1.78% (95% CI=1.50, 2.09) developed dementia compared with 0.31% (95% CI=0.20, 0.45) in low genetic risk and low individual-level deprivation (hazard ratio=4.06; 95% CI=2.63, 6.26). There was no significant interaction between genetic risk and area-level (p=0.77) or individual-level (p=0.07) deprivation. An imaging substudy including 11,083 participants found a greater burden of white matter hyperintensities associated with higher socioeconomic deprivation.

Individual-level and area-level socioeconomic deprivation were associated with increased dementia risk. Dementia prevention interventions may be particularly effective if targeted to households and areas with fewer socioeconomic resources, regardless of genetic vulnerability.