Persistent financial adversity and cognitive aging: a life course investigation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Gerontology
• Public Health

Background:

• Long-term effects of financial adversity on cognitive aging are not fully understood.
• Financial hardship across adulthood may influence cognitive function and brain health later in life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between sustained financial hardship and cognitive aging.
• To examine variations in these effects based on sex, childhood socioeconomic status, and genetic risk.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the 1946 British birth cohort and its neuroimaging sub-study.
• Linked financial adversity (low income, hardships) to cognitive performance and decline, and neuroimaging measures.
• Assessed moderating roles of sex, childhood socioeconomic circumstances (SEC), and APOE-ɛ4.

Main Results:

• Increased financial adversity correlated with lower processing speed and verbal memory at age 53.
• Persistent low income was linked to greater ventricular volume (brain atrophy).
• Adverse effects were amplified in men, individuals with lower childhood SEC, and APOE-ɛ4 carriers.

Conclusions:

• Persistent financial adversity negatively affects midlife cognition and contributes to later-life brain atrophy.
• Interventions supporting financially vulnerable working-age adults may be crucial for dementia prevention.