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Association of neighborhood disadvantage with cognitive function and cortical disorganization in an unimpaired cohort: An exploratory study
Apoorva Safai, William R. Buckingham, Erin McMullen Jonaitis, Rebecca E. Langhough, Sterling C. Johnson, W. Ryan Powell, Amy Kind, Barbara B. Bendlin et al.. Alzheimer s & Dementia, 2025-03-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with worse cognitive performance on memory, executive function, processing speed, and preclinical Alzheimer's tests on both datasets. Local morphological organization of predominantly the frontal and temporal regions showed association trends with ADI. Morphological patterns associated with ADI, in-part, may explain the risk for poor cognitive functioning in a neighborhood disadvantaged population. HIGHLIGHTS: Social determinants of health such as neighborhood context can be studied using ADI. High neighborhood disadvantage was related to worse performance on category fluency, implicit learning speed, story recall memory and pre-clinical Alzheimer's cognitive composite. In this exploratory study, using morphological brain networks that indicate similarity in distribution of cortical thickness between regions, we observed that centrality of predominantly frontal and temporal regions was marginally linked with neighborhood disadvantage status and also partially mediated its association with preclinical Alzheimer's composite test. There is a potential role for considering neighborhood status in early screening of cognitive impairment and dementia.
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APA 7th
Safai, A., Buckingham, W. R., Jonaitis, E. M., Langhough, R. E., Johnson, S. C., Powell, W. R., et al. (2025). Association of neighborhood disadvantage with cognitive function and cortical disorganization in an unimpaired cohort: An exploratory study. Alzheimer s & Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70095
Vancouver
Safai A, Buckingham WR, Jonaitis EM, Langhough RE, Johnson SC, Powell WR, et al. Association of neighborhood disadvantage with cognitive function and cortical disorganization in an unimpaired cohort: An exploratory study. Alzheimer s & Dementia. 2025. doi:10.1002/alz.70095. PMID: 40110699.
BibTeX
@article{safai2025-40110699,
author = {Safai, Apoorva and Buckingham, William R. and Jonaitis, Erin McMullen and Langhough, Rebecca E. and Johnson, Sterling C. and Powell, W. Ryan and Kind, Amy and Bendlin, Barbara B. and others},
title = {{Association of neighborhood disadvantage with cognitive function and cortical disorganization in an unimpaired cohort: An exploratory study}},
journal = {Alzheimer s \& Dementia},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1002/alz.70095},
pmid = {40110699},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70095}
}
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Key findings
- Neighborhood disadvantage was associated with worse cognitive performance on memory, executive function, processing speed, and preclinical Alzheimer's tests on both datasets.
- Local morphological organization of predominantly the frontal and temporal regions showed association trends with ADI.
- Morphological patterns associated with ADI, in-part, may explain the risk for poor cognitive functioning in a neighborhood disadvantaged population.
- HIGHLIGHTS: Social determinants of health such as neighborhood context can be studied using ADI.
- High neighborhood disadvantage was related to worse performance on category fluency, implicit learning speed, story recall memory and pre-clinical Alzheimer's cognitive composite.
Why it matters
In this exploratory study, neighborhood disadvantage was linked to worse performance on memory, executive function, processing speed, and preclinical Alzheimer's tests. Brain morphological patterns in frontal and temporal regions were marginally linked to neighborhood disadvantage and partly explained its link to preclinical Alzheimer's scores.
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Study details
- Participants524
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 50/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Alzheimer s & Dementia) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Alzheimer s & Dementia: journal h-index 228 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 524 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 2 / 7 | Cited 11 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 7.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 5 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 11 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Pallavi Tiwari: h-index 27 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Wisconsin–Madison: institution h-index 1,518 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40110699) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 50 / 100 | — |
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