A new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) finds that long-term financial hardship may accelerate brain aging. The study, based on data from 2,759 participants in the United Kingdom, linked persistent poverty and financial strain to poorer cognitive performance and measurable brain shrinkage.
All participants were born in 1946 and are part of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, the longest running continuously monitored birth cohort study in the world. The researchers examined cognitive tests and MRI scans taken over decades.
Persistent financial hardship was associated with lower scores on tests of verbal memory and processing speed, while persistent low income was linked to brain atrophy and enlarged ventricles. By age 53, those with chronic hardship showed reduced cognitive function, and by age 71, significant brain atrophy was observed. The group with persistent hardship had a slower rate of decline for verbal memory between ages 53 and 69, suggesting substantial losses had already occurred by midlife.
Were in the persistent low income category (lowest 20% at ages 26, 43, or 53).
Experienced persistent financial hardship (difficulty paying bills at ages 36 to 53).
Long-term hardship links to worse cognitive health than occasional adversity.
Potential mechanisms suggested by the study include chronic stress leading to inflammation or increased cognitive load from persistent financial worry. The associations were strongest among men, people from disadvantaged childhoods, and carriers of the APOE-ε4 genetic variant. The findings held even after adjusting for childhood cognition, education, and childhood socioeconomic disadvantage.
Reducing chronic poverty could prevent future cognitive decline and dementia.
The study, published in the journal Innovation in Aging, had an observational design and could not prove that financial stress directly caused the cognitive effects. Dementia affected 57 million people globally in 2019, and cases are expected to triple to over 150 million by 2050.
Cognitive decline involves genetic risks, behaviors, and uncontrollable life experiences.