Distinct Domains of Childhood Disadvantage and Cognitive Performance Among Older Brazilians: Evidence from ELSI-Brazil

Overview

Journal SSM Popul Health

Date 2023 May 22

PMID 37215155

Authors

Brayan V Seixas

James Macinko

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between of distinct domains of childhood disadvantage and cognitive performance among older adults within the context of a middle-income country.

Methods: This study used baseline data (2015/2016) from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI), a nationally representative cohort of 9412 adults aged 50 and over. Nine childhood exposure variables were grouped into three domains (family SES, childhood health, and cultural capital), for which scores were created. Survey-weighted Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions estimated the association childhood disadvantage with cognitive performance as measured by immediate memory, late memory and semantic verbal fluency. Mediation analysis assessed whether adulthood socioeconomic status (SES) mediated this relationship of interest.

Results: Important disparities in cognitive performance were observed, particularly in terms of age, education, income, occupational status. Before controlling for adulthood SES in the multivariable analysis, all domains of childhood disadvantage were found to be associated with lower cognitive performance across all three measures. After inclusion of adulthood SES variables, the observed associations only remained for semantic verbal fluency. Formal mediation analysis indicated that adulthood SES mediates 47.9% (95% CI: 34.3%-78.6%) of the association between later-life verbal fluency and poor childhood health, and 49.9% (95% CI: 43.6%-57.8%) of the association between later-life verbal fluency and low childhood cultural capital.

Conclusions: We found that childhood disadvantage is associated with low performance in memory tests and semantic verbal fluency tests among older Brazilians. Adulthood SES fully mediated the association between all domains of childhood disadvantage and memory performance and only partially mediated its association with verbal fluency. Our findings support policy efforts to enhance early childhood development and improve adulthood SES, and guide additional research to better the mechanisms driving these relationships.

References

Tsang R, Gallacher J, Bauermeister S . The long arm of childhood socioeconomic deprivation on mid- to later-life cognitive trajectories: A cross-cohort analysis. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2022; 14(1):e12322. PMC: 9159813. DOI: 10.1002/dad2.12322. View

Ports K, Holman D, Guinn A, Pampati S, Dyer K, Merrick M . Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Presence of Cancer Risk Factors in Adulthood: A Scoping Review of the Literature From 2005 to 2015. J Pediatr Nurs. 2019; 44:81-96. PMC: 6355255. DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2018.10.009. View

Muhammad T, Debnath P, Srivastava S, Sekher T . Childhood deprivations predict late-life cognitive impairment among older adults in India. Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):12786. PMC: 9329336. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16652-y. View

Angelini V, Howdon D, Mierau J . Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Late-Adulthood Mental Health: Results From the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2018; 74(1):95-104. PMC: 6941210. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gby028. View

Vikstrom J, Bladh M, Hammar M, Marcusson J, Wressle E, Sydsjo G . The influences of childlessness on the psychological well-being and social network of the oldest old. BMC Geriatr. 2011; 11:78. PMC: 3248877. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2318-11-78. View

Wehrle F, Caflisch J, Eichelberger D, Haller G, Latal B, Largo R . The Importance of Childhood for Adult Health and Development-Study Protocol of the Zurich Longitudinal Studies. Front Hum Neurosci. 2021; 14:612453. PMC: 7901945. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.612453. View

Tsimpida D, Kontopantelis E, Ashcroft D, Panagioti M . The dynamic relationship between hearing loss, quality of life, socioeconomic position and depression and the impact of hearing aids: answers from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2021; 57(2):353-362. PMC: 8784360. DOI: 10.1007/s00127-021-02155-0. View

Stringhini S, Zaninotto P, Kumari M, Kivimaki M, Batty G . Lifecourse socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes: the role of chronic inflammation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:24780. PMC: 4840327. DOI: 10.1038/srep24780. View

Holman D, Ports K, Buchanan N, Hawkins N, Merrick M, Metzler M . The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Risk of Cancer in Adulthood: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Pediatrics. 2016; 138(Suppl 1):S81-S91. PMC: 5892430. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-4268L. View

10.

Godfrey K, Barker D . Fetal programming and adult health. Public Health Nutr. 2001; 4(2B):611-24. DOI: 10.1079/phn2001145. View

11.

Lima-Costa M, Andrade F, de Souza Jr P, Neri A, de Oliveira Duarte Y, Castro-Costa E . The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil): Objectives and Design. Am J Epidemiol. 2018; 187(7):1345-1353. PMC: 6031009. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx387. View

12.

Yang Y, Gerken K, Schorpp K, Boen C, Harris K . Early-Life Socioeconomic Status and Adult Physiological Functioning: A Life Course Examination of Biosocial Mechanisms. Biodemography Soc Biol. 2017; 63(2):87-103. PMC: 5439296. DOI: 10.1080/19485565.2017.1279536. View

13.

Hertzman C . Putting the concept of biological embedding in historical perspective. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012; 109 Suppl 2:17160-7. PMC: 3477385. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1202203109. View

14.

Lin Z, Chen X . Adverse childhood circumstances and cognitive function in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: Lower level or faster decline?. SSM Popul Health. 2021; 14:100767. PMC: 8025052. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100767. View

15.

Wise P . Child Poverty and the Promise of Human Capacity: Childhood as a Foundation for Healthy Aging. Acad Pediatr. 2016; 16(3 Suppl):S37-45. DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2016.01.014. View

16.

Pavela G, Latham K . Childhood Conditions and Multimorbidity Among Older Adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2015; 71(5):889-901. PMC: 4982384. DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbv028. View

17.

Barker D . Early growth and cardiovascular disease. Arch Dis Child. 1999; 80(4):305-7. PMC: 1717901. DOI: 10.1136/adc.80.4.305. View

18.

Cermakova P, Formanek T, Kagstrom A, Winkler P . Socioeconomic position in childhood and cognitive aging in Europe. Neurology. 2018; 91(17):e1602-e1610. PMC: 6205684. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000006390. View

19.

Black M, Walker S, Fernald L, Andersen C, DiGirolamo A, Lu C . Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course. Lancet. 2016; 389(10064):77-90. PMC: 5884058. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31389-7. View

20.

Zhang Z, Liu H, Choi S . Early-life socioeconomic status, adolescent cognitive ability, and cognition in late midlife: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Soc Sci Med. 2019; 244:112575. PMC: 6926157. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112575. View