Low neighborhood deprivation buffers against hippocampal neurodegeneration, white matter hyperintensities, and poorer cognition

• Main Authors: Tan, Chin Hong, Tan, Jacinth J. X.
• Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology; Hippocampus; Neurodegeneration
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169332
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

There is increasing recognition that socioeconomic inequalities contribute to disparities in brain and cognitive health in older adults. However, whether neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) buffers individuals with low individual SES against neurodegeneration, cerebrovascular disease, and poorer cognitive function is not well understood. Here, we evaluated whether neighborhood deprivation (Townsend deprivation index) interacted with individual SES (composite household income and education levels) on hippocampus volume, regional cortical thickness, white matter hyperintensities, and cognition in 19,638 individuals (mean age = 54.8) from the UK Biobank. We found that individuals with low individual SES had the smallest hippocampal volumes, greatest white matter hyperintensity burden, and poorest cognition if they were living in high deprivation neighborhoods but that these deleterious effects on brain and cognitive function were attenuated if they were living in low deprivation neighborhoods (p for interactions < .05). While neighborhood deprivation did not interact with individual SES to influence regional cortical thickness, higher neighborhood deprivation was independently associated with lower cortical thickness in 16 regions (false discovery rate q < .05). Across multiple brain indices and cognitive function analyses, we found converging evidence suggesting that low neighborhood deprivation may have a neuroprotective effect against neurodegeneration, cerebrovascular pathology, and cognitive impairment, particularly in vulnerable individuals with low household income and education levels.