Persistent money struggles tied to faster brain aging

Persistent financial hardship accelerates age-related cognitive decline, according to a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers. The study, published in Innovation in Aging, looked at data from 2,759 people in the UK who filled out questionnaires throughout their lives as part of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (also known as the 1946 British cohort study).

The research team found that people who experienced either persistent money struggles or persistent low income in early and middle adulthood performed less well on cognitive tests by age 53.

Looking at a subgroup of people who had brain scans, the team found that those who experienced persistent low income had worse brain health (including more brain shrinkage) in later life (ages 69–71).

These links remained even after accounting for factors that might have skewed the results, such as childhood cognition, education level and childhood disadvantage.

Years of strain, not isolated setbacks

Corresponding author Dr. Jacques Wels (Unit for Lifelong Health & Aging at UCL) said, “Most studies on cognitive aging look at financial hardship at only a single point in time. 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.”

Senior author Professor Praveetha Patalay (Unit for Lifelong Health & Aging and Center for Longitudinal Studies, UCL) said, “Our findings suggest that supporting people facing financial hardship and reducing chronic poverty could also help prevent cognitive decline and dementia cases in the future.”

The research team found that the link between financial adversity and poorer brain health in later life was particularly strong for men, those who experienced childhood disadvantage and those who carried a genetic variant, APOE-ε4, that raises Alzheimer’s risk.

Men who experienced persistent financial adversity also did less well on cognitive tests at age 53 than their female counterparts. Possible reasons for this difference might include that disadvantaged men may have worse health behaviors (such as smoking and alcohol misuse) than disadvantaged women and that men might experience the stress of financial adversity more, especially as they would have been the primary breadwinners in this cohort born in 1946.

Stress and cognitive load

The researchers mention different mechanisms that could link cognitive aging and financial hardship, including inflammation, which is known to accelerate brain aging and is caused by chronic stress.

Another factor is that frequently worrying about money may increase cognitive load, leaving people with less bandwidth for other cognitive tasks.

The researchers also said that, while those who experienced financial hardship or low income did less well on cognitive tests at 53, their performance on a memory test declined more slowly between 53 and 69, which was likely due to them already having suffered significant cognitive losses compared with counterparts who did not have persistent financial strain.

How hardship was measured

Study participants were asked about their household income at three points, at ages 26, 43 and 53, and were classified as having persistent low income if they were in the bottom 20% of the group at least twice, which amounted to 16% (about one in six) of the participants.

Financial hardship was assessed using questions such as whether people found it hard to manage on their income and whether they had had trouble paying bills. Participants were classified as having experienced persistent hardship if they scored above a threshold on the questionnaire at least twice between ages 36 and 53. This represented 12% (about one in eight) of the participants.

Cognitive tests assessed verbal memory and processing speed; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans allowed researchers to measure factors such as brain atrophy (shrinkage) and ventricular expansion—that is, the expansion of fluid-filled cavities in the brain—which is a sign of poor brain health.

The 1946 British cohort study, hosted by UCL, is the world’s longest continuously running birth cohort study. Participants (who were enrolled at birth) celebrated their 80th birthday earlier this year.

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Sadie Harley

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Robert Egan

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