Social Factors Increase The Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease

Social factors increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease

Scientists have found that people who live in areas with low income, education and medical care are more likely to develop abnormal proteins in their brains that cause Alzheimer's disease.

Photo: Massimo Adami / Unsplash

Living in socially disadvantaged areas is associated with an increased risk of developing various diseases. The study, which was published by the journal JAMA Network Open, added Alzheimer's disease to the list of these pathologies.

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin used an atlas with information about how well a particular area in the United States is. They correlated his findings with information about how often in different places in people they reveal changes in the brain specific to Alzheimer's at the time of autopsy.

The degree of "problematicity" of the region in the atlas, which was used by scientists, was determined using the deprivation index. This indicator assesses the level of education, health care, income, unemployment and housing quality in different areas.

The new research supports the earlier concept that social factors can influence the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

Scientists have found that the level of well-being of an area is strongly associated with the likelihood of finding Alzheimer's in residents. People who lived in the poorest neighborhoods could have twice the risk of developing Alzheimer's than those in the most privileged areas.

Scientists received information about changes in the brain of residents of different regions at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The authors point out that this organization is not represented in all regions of the country, therefore, one cannot speak of 100% accuracy of the data. They expect further research to provide more accurate figures.