Older people in deprived areas in Ireland face problems of poor brain health

People who live in disadvantaged areas have a greater risk of developing cognitive dysfunction than people in better off areas, a study by Professor Helene McNulty and colleagues at the University of Ulster has found.

The findings of this study, funded by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland, are based on novel analysis of existing data collected for the TUDA Ageing north-south cohort study of over 5,000 older people in Ireland. The latest results show that – over and above factors like lower levels of education – living in a disadvantaged area significantly predicts cognitive dysfunction in ageing. This means that older people living in deprived areas of Ireland, North and South, are more likely to suffer mental illnesses ranging from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

Although cognitive dysfunction generally increased with age, older people living in the most deprived areas were more at risk of poor cognitive health compared with a person of the same age living in a less deprived area.

Compared with people in the least deprived areas, people living in the most deprived areas had:

• 3 years less education
• A greater likelihood of anxiety and depression
• Higher body mass index
• Lower rates of physical activity
• Higher rates of smoking

The full report is entitled 'Socio-economicdeprivation and risk of age-related cognitive dysfunction: results from theTUDA Ageing Cohort Study'.

The latest findings from the TUDA study were presented recently at the annual Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society in Galway. 

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