People who faced persistent financial hardship or persistently low income through early and middle adulthood performed worse on cognitive tests by age 53 than those who did not, according to an analysis of one of the longest-running birth cohort studies in the world. Among a subgroup who later received brain scans, persistent low income was also associated with poorer brain health between ages 69 and 71, including more brain shrinkage.
The analysis, led by University College London and published in Innovation in Aging in July, drew on data from 2,759 people tracked across most of their lives. The participants were born in Britain in 1946, and their financial and social context differs considerably from that of American adults today.
