Persistent financial hardship may speed up age-related cognitive decline, according to researchers at University College London. Their study was an analysis of data from 2,759 people in the UK who completed questionnaires across much of their adult lives as part of the 1946 British cohort study.

People who faced ongoing financial difficulties or persistently low income during early and middle adulthood tended to score worse on cognitive tests by age 53. Among a subgroup that later underwent brain scans, persistent low income also was linked to poorer brain health, including more brain shrinkage, between ages 69 and 71.

About 16% of participants met the study's definition of persistent low income, and about 12% met its definition of persistent financial hardship. The associations held even after accounting for childhood cognitive ability, education, and disadvantages.

"Most studies on cognitive aging look at financial hardship at only a single point in time,” said corresponding author Jacques Wels, PhD, of University College London (UCL)'s Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing. “Our study using several decades of data allows us to see that it is the accumulation of hardship over many years that is linked to the worst cognitive health outcomes, rather than occasional episodes of adversity,"

The link between financial adversity and poorer brain health was especially strong among men; people who experienced disadvantages in childhood; and carriers of the APOE-ε4 genetic variant linked to higher Alzheimer's risk. Researchers suggested possible explanations, including higher rates of smoking and alcohol use among disadvantaged men and the generational role of men as primary breadwinners. Chronic stress-related inflammation and the cognitive burden of persistent financial worry were also proposed as contributing pathways.

"Our findings suggest that supporting people facing financial hardship and reducing chronic poverty could help prevent cognitive decline and dementia cases in the future," said senior author Praveetha Patalay, PhD, UCL.

To download the full study, published in Innovation in Aging, click here: https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/10/8/igag054/8739704