How Inequality is Speeding Up Brain Aging Worldwide—New Study Reveals Alarming Truth

Inequality Brain Aging Accelerates

Inequality Accelerates Brain Aging, Global Study Finds

Recent research has unveiled that nations grappling with greater inequality—whether economic, environmental, or health-related—display indicators of accelerated brain aging.

The rate at which the brain ages varies significantly between individuals, resulting in a gap between the brain’s biological age and a person’s actual chronological age.

A multitude of elements, from environmental influences like pollution to social disparities such as income and health inequities, appear to disproportionately affect older adults and those suffering from dementia.

Until now, the intricate ways these factors intertwine to hasten or decelerate brain aging across global populations had not been fully understood.

The study was spearheaded by an international group of researchers who devised advanced methods for assessing brain aging through sophisticated brain clocks driven by deep learning of neural networks.

The research incorporated a broad dataset, including 5,306 individuals from 15 different countries, covering both Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations and those outside the LAC region.

By utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), the researchers quantified the gap in brain age among healthy individuals and those affected by neurodegenerative diseases like mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s, and frontotemporal lobe degeneration (FTLD).

Key Insights on Brain Aging and Inequality

Dr. Daniel Abasolo, one of the study’s co-authors and the Head of the Centre for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Surrey, noted: “Our findings reveal that in countries where inequality is more pronounced, individuals’ brains tend to age more rapidly, particularly in regions most susceptible to aging.

Factors such as socioeconomic inequality, air pollution, and disease significantly contribute to this accelerated aging, especially in economically disadvantaged nations.”

Participants diagnosed with dementia, particularly those suffering from Alzheimer’s, exhibited the most pronounced discrepancies in brain age.

The study also underscored notable sex-based differences in brain aging, with women in LAC countries showing wider brain age gaps, especially among Alzheimer’s patients.

These disparities were attributed not just to biological sex but also to gender-related differences in health and social circumstances.

The study ruled out factors like signal quality, demographic variations, or acquisition methods as causes, solidifying the conclusion that environmental and social factors play a decisive role in brain health disparities.

The implications of these findings for neuroscience and brain health are profound, shedding light on the complex relationship between macro-level factors (the exposome) and the underlying mechanisms of brain aging across various populations, both in healthy aging and in dementia.

By incorporating multiple layers of diversity into brain health research, the study introduces a fresh framework for personalized medicine.

This newly established framework could prove instrumental in identifying individuals at elevated risk for neurodegenerative diseases and developing targeted strategies to reduce those risks.

Furthermore, the results underscore the significance of factoring in the biological impacts of environmental and social determinants in crafting public health policies.

By tackling issues such as socioeconomic disparity and environmental pollution, policymakers could bridge the brain age gap and promote healthier aging on a broader scale.

Reference

“Brain clocks capture diversity and disparities in aging and dementia across geographically diverse populations” by Sebastian Moguilner, Sandra Baez, Hernan Hernandez, Joaquín Migeot, Agustina Legaz, Raul Gonzalez-Gomez, Francesca R. Farina, Pavel Prado, Jhosmary Cuadros, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Florencia Altschuler, Marcelo Adrián Maito, María E. Godoy, Josephine Cruzat, Pedro A. Valdes-Sosa, Francisco Lopera, John Fredy Ochoa-Gómez, Alfredis Gonzalez Hernandez, Jasmin Bonilla-Santos, Rodrigo A. Gonzalez-Montealegre, Renato Anghinah, Luís E. d’Almeida Manfrinati, Sol Fittipaldi, Vicente Medel, Daniela Olivares, Görsev G. Yener, Javier Escudero, Claudio Babiloni, Robert Whelan, Bahar Güntekin, Harun Yırıkoğulları, Hernando Santamaria-Garcia, Alberto Fernández Lucas, David Huepe, Gaetano Di Caterina, Marcio Soto-Añari, Agustina Birba, Agustin Sainz-Ballesteros, Carlos Coronel-Oliveros, Amanuel Yigezu, Eduar Herrera, Daniel Abasolo, Kerry Kilborn, Nicolás Rubido, Ruaridh A. Clark, Ruben Herzog, Deniz Yerlikaya, Kun Hu, Mario A. Parra, Pablo Reyes, Adolfo M. García, Diana L. Matallana, José Alberto Avila-Funes, Andrea Slachevsky, María I. Behrens, Nilton Custodio, Juan F. Cardona, Pablo Barttfeld, Ignacio L. Brusco, Martín A. Bruno, Ana L. Sosa Ortiz, Stefanie D. Pina-Escudero, Leonel T. Takada, Elisa Resende, Katherine L. Possin, Maira Okada de Oliveira, Alejandro Lopez-Valdes, Brain Lawlor, Ian H. Robertson, Kenneth S. Kosik, Claudia Duran-Aniotz, Victor Valcour, Jennifer S. Yokoyama, Bruce Miller, and Agustin Ibanez, 26 August 2024, Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03209-x.