A new study from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine has found that the conditions of your neighbourhood may play a major role in shaping your brain health and even your risk of developing dementia. Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Behaviour & Socioeconomics of Aging, the research suggests that people living in areas with higher social and environmental disadvantage show apparent differences in brain structure and function compared to those in more privileged environments.
According to Timothy Hughes, PhD, an associate professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest and the study’s senior author, the findings confirm that where we live can have a profound impact on how our brains age. “This study is consistent with other research showing that the social environment in which people live can profoundly affect their brain health,” he explained. The research suggests that neighbourhood conditions influence not only general wellbeing but also biological processes linked to memory and cognition.
The researchers analysed data from 679 adults taking part in the Healthy Brain Study at the Wake Forest Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Each participant underwent brain scans and blood tests designed to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. The team then compared these results with national measures of neighbourhood quality — including the Area Deprivation Index, the Social Vulnerability Index, and the Environmental Justice Index. These tools reflect levels of poverty, pollution, and social instability at the community level.
The study found that people living in areas with higher scores on these indices — meaning more social and environmental disadvantage — had brain changes often associated with dementia. These included a thinner outer layer of the brain, changes in white matter linked to vascular disease, and reduced blood flow. The effects were most substantial among Black participants, whose neighbourhoods tended to experience greater social and environmental burdens, highlighting how structural inequality may increase dementia risk.
Lead author Sudarshan Krishnamurthy, a sixth-year M.D.-Ph.D. candidate, noted that this is one of the first studies to link community conditions with biological markers of dementia. “It shows that where people live — their access to clean air, safe housing, healthy food and economic opportunity — can leave a lasting mark on brain health,” he said. This adds to growing evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is shaped not only by genes or individual habits but also by broader social and environmental forces.
The researchers believe their findings carry an important message for public health policy. To truly improve brain health for all, they argue, society must focus on the wider systems that shape life at the neighbourhood level. Addressing issues like poverty, pollution, and lack of resources could help protect brain health and reduce dementia risk. In short, the study reminds us that a healthy mind depends not only on personal choices, but also on the health of the community and environment we call home.
More information: Sudarshan Krishnamurthy et al, Associations of place-based social determinants of health with biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Alzheimer’s & Dementia Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging. DOI: 10.1002/bsa3.70030
Journal information: Alzheimer’s & Dementia Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging Provided by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
