A new study by Irish scientists involved more than two thousand people from the United States and Latin America. The sample included both healthy individuals and patients with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. The researchers sought to determine how social status impacts brain health.
The results were disappointing. Thus, with the most severe socioeconomic inequality, volunteers showed a reduction in brain volume, as well as a decrease in neural connections, especially in the cerebellum, temporal and posterior lobes, writes EurekAlert. These signs are associated with higher risks of dementia.
Notably, these effects were more pronounced in people in Latin American countries. On the other hand, people from these countries had the most severe symptoms of dementia. “Changes in the brain due to social inequality may have exacerbated neurodenervation,” the authors said.
However, the most surprising thing was the independence of the findings from individual characteristics. The relationship remained even after accounting for individual factors such as age, gender, education level, and cognitive ability.
"This highlights the independent role of macro-level factors in shaping brain health and demonstrates the need for more careful population screening when assessing the risk of Alzheimer's disease," concluded the study's author, Augustina Legas.
Similar results were previously found in another study, which found that poverty and stress alter the structure of children's brains.
