Living in a poor neighborhood increases the risk by more than 20%. to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, regardless of individual factors. It is the result of a study coordinated by University of California of San Francisco, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association congress and published in Jama Neurology.
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“Living in a socioeconomically deprived neighborhood has been shown to negatively affect health, various behaviors, stress levels, as well as access to food, safety and education,” they write.
researchers.
However, it is not clear how much this affects the risk of dementia.
Research
The team analyzed the data of over 1.6 million Americans belonging to the Veterans Health Administration, relating their state of health to the neighborhood of residence, classified on the basis of an index that evaluates the level of socio-economic disadvantage.
“The study showed that, beyond risk factors present at the individual level, the level of neighborhood disadvantage was negatively associated with brain health even in a population that, at least in theory, has equal access to care,” the research team said.
The statistic
In particular, compared to those who lived in the more affluent neighbourhoods, the people who lived in the more critical ones presented a risk of developing the disease increased by 22%.
The mechanisms through which the living environment can influence brain health, according to the researchers, are many: for example «the disadvantaged neighborhoods from the point of view
may have more stressors and fewer resources, which can hinder activities that are beneficial physically and psychologically.