Where One Lives Impacts Dementia Risk

Neighborhood disadvantage tied to higher blood pressure and cardiometabolic index, as well as lower cognitive scores

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Dec. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Neighborhood disadvantage is more strongly associated with measures of cardiometabolic health and cognition in individuals without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to those with MCI, according to a study published online Dec. 6 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring.

Sudarshan Krishnamurthy, from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues investigated the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage with measures of cardiometabolic health and cognition. Analysis included 537 adults (aged >55 years) participating in the Wake Forest Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Healthy Brain Study (between 2016 and 2021); 39.3 percent had MCI.

The researchers found that Area Deprivation Index (ADI) was positively associated with blood pressure and cardiometabolic index (CMI). There was a negative association between ADI and global and Preclinical Alzheimer’s Cognitive Composite scores in cognitively unimpaired individuals. In individuals with MCI, ADI was only positively associated with hemoglobin A1c.

“Neighborhood disadvantage is associated more strongly with measures of cardiometabolic health and cognition among cognitively unimpaired individuals rather than MCI,” the authors write. “These findings demonstrate a need for structural solutions to address social determinants of health in an attempt to reduce cardiometabolic and cognitive risks.”

One author disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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