Linking Adverse Childhood Experiences and Other Risk Factors to Subjective Cognitive Decline in an Aging Population

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) encourages an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the burden of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) among the aging US population as that population continues to increase. Our study is one of the first to evaluate associations between SCD and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other modifiable risk factors to support implementation of the initiative.

We used multivariate logistic regression to assess data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey to evaluate associations between SCD and ACEs scores and sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical risk factors. Models were weighted to account for the complex survey design.

Approximately 8.1% of survey respondents reported experiencing SCD within the past 12 months. Adjusted regression analysis showed that conditions such as depression (AOR, 2.85; 95% CI, 2.29-3.55), arthritis (AOR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.05-1.60), and diabetes (AOR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.05-1.68) were significantly associated with SCD. SCD was also associated with experiencing more than 3 falls per year (AOR, 2.95; 95% CI, 2.13-4.09), sleeping more than 9 hours per night (AOR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.37-3.09), and physical inactivity (AOR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.03-1.68). Two or more ACEs also significantly increased the odds of SCD (AOR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.36-2.10).

Findings from our study can be used to inform policy, environment, and systems change efforts aimed at addressing modifiable risk factors to support healthy aging. The role of ACEs as determinants of brain health across the life course should also be considered in the design of clinical and community-based interventions.