Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has identified several community-level factors that may increase people's risk of experiencing cognitive impairment.
In the study of 2,830 dementia-free US individuals aged 65+ years, 23.2% of participants were categorized as having mild cognitive impairment. People who lived in areas with higher neighborhood disadvantage, higher air pollution, higher homicide rate, and less greenspace had elevated odds of having mild cognitive impairment. Completing schooling in a Southern US state was also associated with a greater likelihood of mild cognitive impairment. After adjusting for age, race, sex, and education level, the link between mild cognitive impairment and higher neighborhood disadvantage remained statistically significant.
"As clinicians and researchers, we routinely consider older adults' individual risk factors for cognitive impairment, but we also need to consider the influence of the social and environmental factors where they live and work. If planners and policymakers want to reduce disease burden in our communities, they too need to take into account the social determinants of health," said corresponding author Mary Ganguli, MD, MPH, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.19251
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