Social determinants of brain structure and cognition

Soc Sci Med. 2026 Jan 29;394:119045. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119045. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic disadvantage is recognized as a risk factor for cognitive decline, yet its associated neural pathways remain unclear. We investigated whether neighborhood disadvantage, measured by the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), was associated with cognitive performance in older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and whether structural brain differences explained this relationship.

METHODS: Participants included 822 older adults (478 cognitively unimpaired [CU], 271 with MCI, and 73 with AD). Associations between ADI, cognition, and brain structure were examined using regression models adjusting for age and sex. Mediation analyses tested whether total brain volume accounted for ADI-cognition relationships.

RESULTS: Higher ADI was associated with poorer cognitive performance across all domains in CU individuals (National ADI: memory β = -0.008, p < 0.001; executive function β = -0.005, p < 0.001; language β = -0.005, p < 0.001; visuospatial β = -0.004, p < 0.001) and across multiple domains in MCI (memory β = -0.007, p = 0.002; executive β = -0.007, p < 0.001). ADI was also associated with smaller total cerebral, gray, and white matter volumes in CU (State ADI and gray matter β = -2.37, FDR-p = 0.006) and greater white matter hyperintensity burden (β = 0.152, FDR-p = 0.009). Associations were weaker in MCI and absent in AD. Mediation analyses showed that total brain volume significantly mediated the effect of ADI on language performance (ACME p = 0.024; proportion mediated = 19.7 %, p = 0.036).

CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood disadvantage is linked to widespread cognitive vulnerability and structural brain differences. However, brain volume explains only a small portion of these associations, suggesting that environmental and contextual factors shape cognitive performance through pathways that extend beyond structural neurodegeneration.

PMID:41662789 | DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119045