Dementia, dementia's risk factors and premorbid brain structure are concentrated in disadvantaged areas: National register and birth-cohort geographic analyses | 2024
Aaron Reuben, Leah S. Richmond-Rakerd, Barry Milne, Devesh Shah, Amber Pearson, ... Show all » Sean Hogan, David Ireland, Ross Keenan, Annchen R. Knodt, Tracy Melzer, Richie Poulton, Sandhya Ramrakha, Ethan T. Whitman, Ahmad R. Hariri, Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi « Hide
Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2024, .
https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13727
Our ref: RO798
Show abstract » Abstract INTRODUCTION Dementia risk may be elevated in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Reasons for this remain unclear, and this elevation has yet to be shown at a national population level. METHODS We tested whether dementia was more prevalent in disadvantaged neighborhoods across the New Zealand population (N = 1.41 million analytic sample) over a 20-year observation. We then tested whether premorbid dementia risk factors and MRI-measured brain-structure antecedents were more prevalent among midlife residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods in a population-representative NZ-birth-cohort (N = 938 analytic sample). RESULTS People residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods were at greater risk of dementia (HR per-quintile-disadvantage-increase = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.08-1.10) and, decades before clinical endpoints typically emerge, evidenced elevated dementia-risk scores (CAIDE, LIBRA, Lancet, ANU-ADRI, DunedinARB; β’s 0.31-0.39) and displayed dementia-associated brain structural deficits and cognitive difficulties/decline. DISCUSSION Disadvantaged neighborhoods have more residents with dementia, and decades before dementia is diagnosed, residents have more dementia-risk factors and brain-structure antecedents. Whether or not neighborhoods causally influence risk, they may offer scalable opportunities for primary dementia prevention.
« Hide abstract