Persistent financial hardship accelerates age-related cognitive decline, according to a new study by UCL researchers.
The study, published in Innovation in old ageexamined data from 2,759 people in the United Kingdom who had completed questionnaires over their lifetime as part of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (also known as the 1946 British Cohort Study).
The research team found that people who had either persistent money problems or persistent low income in early and middle adulthood performed worse on cognitive tests at age 53.
By studying a subset of people who had brain scans, the team found that those who suffered from persistent low income had poorer brain health (including more brain shrinkage) later in life (ages 69 to 71).
These relationships remained even after accounting for factors that could have biased the results, such as: B. Cognition in childhood, educational attainment and disadvantage in childhood.
The corresponding author Dr. Jacques Wels (Department of Lifelong Health and Aging at UCL) said: “Most studies of cognitive aging only look at financial difficulties at a single point in time. Our study, using data spanning several decades, allows us to see that it is the accumulation of difficulties over many years that is associated with the worst cognitive health outcomes, rather than occasional episodes of adversity.”
Lead author Professor Praveetha Patalay (Unit for Lifelong Health & Aging and Center for Longitudinal Studies, UCL) said: “Our findings suggest that supporting people in financial difficulty and reducing chronic poverty could also help prevent cognitive decline and cases of dementia in the future.”
The research team found that the link between financial difficulties and poorer brain health later in life was particularly strong among men, those who were disadvantaged in childhood and those who carried a genetic variant, APOE-ε4, that increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Men who experienced persistent financial difficulties also performed worse on cognitive tests than their female counterparts at age 53. Possible reasons for this difference could be that disadvantaged men have poorer health behaviors (such as smoking and alcohol abuse) than disadvantaged women and that men may suffer more from the stress of financial difficulties, particularly as they would have been the primary earners in this cohort born in 1946.
The researchers mention several mechanisms that could link cognitive aging and financial difficulties, including inflammation, which is known to accelerate brain aging and is caused by chronic stress.
Another factor is that frequently worrying about money can increase cognitive load, leaving people with less time for other cognitive tasks.
The researchers also said that those who suffered from financial difficulties or low income performed less well on cognitive tests at age 53, but their performance on a memory test declined more slowly between ages 53 and 69, likely because they had already suffered significant cognitive losses compared to their peers who did not suffer from ongoing financial stress.
Study participants were asked about their household income at three time points at ages 26, 43 and 53 and were classified as persistently low income if they were in the bottom 20% of the group at least twice, which corresponded to 16% (approximately one in six) of participants.
Financial hardship was assessed by asking whether people had difficulty making ends meet and whether they had difficulty paying bills. Participants were considered to be in persistent distress if they were between the ages of 36 and 53 and scored above a threshold value in the questionnaire at least twice. This corresponded to 12% (around one in eight) of the participants.
Cognitive tests assessed verbal memory and processing speed; Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers were able to measure factors such as brain atrophy (shrinkage) and ventricular expansion – the expansion of fluid-filled cavities in the brain – which are a sign of poor brain health.
The 1946 British Cohort Study conducted by UCL is the longest continuously running birth cohort study in the world. The participants (who were enrolled at birth) celebrated their 80th birthdayTh birthday earlier this year.
Table of Contents
Left
Picture
Media contact
Mark Greaves
m.greaves [at] ucl.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 3108 9485
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/jul/persistent-money-struggles-linked-faster-brain-ageing
