Persistent financial hardship may speed up age-related cognitive decline, according to new research led by University College London (UCL).
Published in Innovation in Aging, the study analyzed information from 2,759 people in the UK who completed questionnaires across much of their lives through the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (also known as the 1946 British cohort study).
Researchers found that people who faced ongoing financial difficulties or persistently low income during early and middle adulthood tended to perform worse on cognitive tests by the age of 53.
Among a subgroup who later underwent brain scans, persistent low income was also associated with poorer brain health (including more brain shrinkage) in later life (ages 69 to 71).
These associations remained after the researchers accounted for other factors that could have influenced the results, including childhood cognitive ability, education level and childhood disadvantage.
