Overview
- Researchers compared MRI and blood-biomarker data from 679 Healthy Brain Study participants with zip-code–level Area Deprivation, Social Vulnerability, and Environmental Justice indices.
- Higher neighborhood burdens correlated with cortical thinning, white-matter changes consistent with vascular disease, reduced cerebral blood flow, and greater flow variability.
- Associations were most pronounced among Black participants living in heavily burdened neighborhoods, highlighting documented inequities in exposure and risk.
- The team characterizes the findings as among the first to connect place-based social determinants with advanced dementia biomarkers, emphasizing policy and systems-level interventions.
- The peer-reviewed study appears in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging (2025) and was funded by NIH and the American Heart Association.