Association of neighborhood and individual-level socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood and adulthood with cognitive function in mid-adulthood: Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study
Socioeconomic disadvantage at individual level is associated with poor cognitive outcomes but the link of neighborhood disadvantage with cognitive function is unclear. We used data from Young Finns Study, a population-based cohort, to examine the associations of neighborhood and individual-level disadvantage in childhood (age 3-21 years) and adulthood (age 22 up to the time of cognitive assessment) with cognitive function in mid-adulthood (age 35-49 years). Neighborhood disadvantage was ascertained based on register data, including geo-coded address history. Compared to individuals who experienced neither individual-level nor neighborhood disadvantage in childhood, those who experienced both had, on average, 0.236 SDs lower overall cognitive function scores (95% CI: -0.355 to -0.116) and those who experienced individual-level but not neighborhood disadvantage had 0.196 SDs lower scores (95% CI, -0.323 to -0.070). The estimates were slightly larger for adult individual-level and neighborhood disadvantage. The findings were similar across the cognitive domains and robust to adjustment for a polygenic risk score for cognitive ability. We found no clear evidence of sleep difficulties, depressive symptoms or cardiovascular health mediating the associations. Our findings suggest that socioeconomic disadvantage at individual-level but not neighborhood-level, from childhood to adulthood, may impact on cognitive function in mid-adulthood.
Authors
- Eero Jokinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2174-8419)
- Päivi Tossavainen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0388-9039)
- Jaana Pentti
- Laura Pulkki-Råbäck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3242-4863)
- Markus Juonala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9498-364X)
- Leena Taittonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7071-0177)
- Jussi Vahtera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6036-061X)
- Suvi Rovio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0911-7478)
- Olli Tuomas Raitakari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9365-3702)
- Tomi P Laitinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3553-9957)
- Jorma S.A. Viikari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6452-010X)
- Ari Ahola‐Olli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4451-3487)
- Katja Pahkala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9338-4397)
- Terho J. Lehtimäki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2555-4427)
- Sari Stenholm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7560-0930)
- Marko Elovainio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1401-1910)
- Nina Hutri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7614-1318)
- Katriina Heikkilä (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6269-6881)
Institutions
- Åbo Akademi University (FI)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Tampere University of Applied Sciences (FI)
- University of Turku (FI)
- Turku University of Applied Sciences (FI)
- Tampere University (FI)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- Oulu University Hospital (FI)
- Helsinki University Hospital (FI)
- Turku University Hospital (FI)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Helsinki Children's Hospital (FI)
- Kuopio University Hospital (FI)
- Tampere University Hospital (FI)
- Cardiovascular Research Center (BR)
- Tampere University (FI)
- Fimlab (Finland) (FI)
- University of Oulu (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- American Journal of Epidemiology
- Published
- 2025-03-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaf032
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Health disparities and outcomes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.17