Spatial scale effects on associations between built environment and cognitive function: Multi-Ethnic Study of...

Area of Science:

• Environmental psychology
• Gerontology
• Urban planning

Background:

• Built environments can influence cognitive function.
• Previous research often overlooks the impact of spatial scale on these associations.
• Understanding spatial scale is crucial for accurately measuring built environment exposures and their health effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the distance of built environment features (walkable destinations [WD] and social destinations [SD]) from residences affects changes in cognitive function.
• To examine the influence of spatial scale on the association between built environment exposures and cognitive change.

Main Methods:

• Utilized spatial distributed lag modeling (DLM) to analyze data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (N=1380, mean age 67).
• Assessed cognitive function as maintained/improved processing speed (PS) and global cognition (GC) between two examination periods (2010-2012 and 2016-2018).
• Derived built environment data from the National Establishment Time Series.

Main Results:

• Higher availability of walkable and social destinations closer to residences was linked to maintained/improved PS.
• The positive associations between PS and destinations decreased with distance, evident up to approximately 1.9 km for WD and 1.5 km for SD.
• These associations were strongest in areas with high population density.
• Little evidence was found for associations between built environment and changes in global cognition (GC) at any distance.

Conclusions:

• The spatial scale of built environment exposures significantly modifies their association with cognitive function, particularly processing speed.
• Proximity to walkable and social destinations appears most beneficial for maintaining processing speed.
• Future research should carefully consider and define appropriate spatial scales to elucidate the mechanisms linking built environments to cognitive health.