Neighborhood disadvantage linked to higher dementia risk

People who live in more disadvantaged neighborhoods can develop dementia rather than people who live in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to a study published on March 26, 2025, online in Neurology^®The Medical Journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that neighborhood factors cause dementia; It only shows an association.

Neighborhood status was determined by factors such as income, employment, education and disability.

Our findings show that the community in which you live influences your risk of dementia. Most studies of risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease are aimed at the individual level, not at the community level. Of course the income at community level is a challenge, but prioritizing disadvantaged communities can be an effective way to mobilize resources for older adults and to offer weighing for reducing the risk of dementia for the overall community. “

Pankaja Desai, PhD, Study Author of Rush University in Chicago, Illinois

The study included 6,781 people with an average age of 72 who live in four communities in Chicago. Tests of thinking and memory skills were given at the start of the study and every three years for at least six years of follow-up. A group of 2,534 people was evaluated on dementia. A total of 66% of the study group was black participants and the rest were white participants.

Researchers looked at American censuses of the four neighborhoods based on the amount of disadvantage. A US Census tract is a small area in a province.

Towards the end of the study, 11% of people in the tracts with the least disadvantage had developed Alzheimer’s disease compared to 14% in the tracts with the next lowest disadvantage, 17% in the tracts with the highest amount of backlog and 22% in the tracts with the highest amount of the disadvantage.

As soon as researchers had adapted for other factors that can influence the risk of dementia, such as age, gender and education, they discovered that people in the tracts with the most disadvantage were more than twice as chance of developing dementia as those in the tracts with the least disadvantage.

“More black participants lived in areas with a greater disadvantage and more white participants lived in areas with a less disadvantage. Once we took into account the disadvantage of the neighborhood, there was no significant difference between black and white people in their risk of developing Alzheimer’s,” Desai said.

The study also looked at the annual degree of deterioration in scores on tests of thinking and memory skills. The dozens of people in the tracts with the most disadvantage fell about 25% faster than those of people in the tracts with the least disadvantage.

A limitation of the research was that participants all lived in Chicago neighbors, so the results cannot apply to other populations.

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging.