A link has been discovered between how much money you make, and the risk of developing dementia later in life, researchers warned Wednesday.
A new analysis of more than 5,000 U.S. adults determined that people with lower incomes and those from minority groups were more likely to have risk factors related to the life-altering brain disorders that affect more than 7 million Americans.
A lower income was associated with an increased likelihood of high blood pressure, hearing loss, depression and a sedentary lifestyle, the American Academy of Neurology members wrote.
The study also revealed that one in five cases of dementia in older people, living below the poverty line, may be tied to vision loss and social isolation.
“While our results are exploratory and do not show cause and effect, improving access to vision care and reducing social isolation among older adults could potentially have a major impact in those living below the poverty level,” Dr. Eric Stulberg, of the Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College, explained in a statement.
Just over 11 percent of Americans were living in poverty in 2023, or nearly 37 million people, according to Census data.
Even after accounting for the participants’ variations in income, researchers found diabetes, obesity, vision loss and physical inactivity were still more strongly linked to historically underrepresented groups, such as Black Americans, Mexican Americans and non-Mexican Hispanic Americans.
Black Americans are known to be at a higher risk for dementia than other racial groups and researchers have been working to understand why. Some recent studies have pinpointed genes associated with African ancestry and higher rates of high blood pressure – potentially tied to a gene that makes people more sensitive to salt – as possible explanations.
Notably, many of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and dementia are similar, such as diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity and high blood pressure. There’s even a link between depression and heart disease.
“What we can say with certainty is that depression and heart disease often occur together,” Johns Hopkins Medicine cardiologist Dr. Roy Ziegelstein said. “About one in five who have a heart attack are found to have depression soon after the heart attack.”
Black Americans suffer from higher rates of heart disease, and are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease, than white Americans.
But racism, barriers to a healthy diet, quality education and medical care and environmental factors have also been identified as factors that are possibly related.
The study assessed participants – with data gathered from 1999 to 2018 – for 13 risk factors: low education, alcohol use, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, social isolation, high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, diabetes, untreated high blood pressure and hearing loss, vision loss and if they had a traumatic brain injury.
Higher incomes – the highest was more than five times the federal poverty level – were associated with a lower prevalence of every dementia risk factor apart from obesity, high cholesterol and a traumatic brain injury, the authors said.
And, at least 20 percent of dementia cases could potentially be mitigated if vision loss and social isolation were addressed.
“Our results suggest there may be an opportunity to help people reduce their dementia risk factors now, thereby reducing risks among people with lower incomes and historically underrepresented populations in clinical studies, where our study suggests many risk factors are more prevalent,” Stulberg said.
The number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease is projected to double by 2060.
People over the age of 75, women, and those with a genetic history, are also known to be at a high risk for dementia.
Doctors say people can slash their risk by reducing alcohol intake, staying mentally and physically active, stopping smoking and protecting their head and eyesight. Environmental factors, such as air pollution, may play a role, too.
“Maintaining a cognitively and physically active lifestyle and controlling risk factor levels pharmacologically, when necessary, throughout one’s life course is critical for later-life brain health,” Priya Palta, an assistant professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said.
