Cumulative supplemental nutrition assistance program participation and memory aging among US older adults, 1996-2018

Losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits is common and can be stressful. We evaluated cumulative SNAP participation in relation to subsequent memory aging among older adults.

Data were from 2633 adults aged 65+ in US Health and Retirement Study 1996-2018. Cumulative SNAP participation over the eight-year period was measured as the percentage of the time individuals participated in SNAP when they were eligible and operationalized as never (n = 2257), intermittent (<2/3, n = 219), and sustained (≥2/3, n = 157). Memory function was assessed by composite memory z-scores incorporating direct and proxy assessments. We fit mixed-effects linear regression models to investigate the association of interest.

Compared to those who were eligible but never participated in SNAP, individuals with intermittent (0.017 SD units; 95 % CI: -0.002 to 0.036) and sustained SNAP participation (0.020 SD units; 95 % CI: 0.001 to 0.040) experienced a slower rate of memory decline, although the estimate for the intermittent SNAP group crossed the null. The observed effect size was equivalent to delaying memory decline by 1.87 and 2.24 years per decade for SNAP intermittent and sustained participants.

Cumulative SNAP participation may help to preserve memory health among low-income older adults in the United States.