ArticleBMJ open2023
Lifecourse investigation of the cumulative impact of adversity on cognitive function in old age and the mediating role of mental health: longitudinal birth cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Late Life Learning, Cognition, and Aging: A Longitudinal study of middle and older-aged adults in Beirut, Lebanon (3LC study).medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Association of life-course stressful life events with later-life intrinsic capacity: A multi-cohort study.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2026Article
- Contribution of accumulative affective problems across the life course towards the association of childhood socioeconomic position with later-life cognitive ageing.European journal of ageing · 2026Article
- Association between fetal exposure to the Chinese famine and cognitive decline in adulthood: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the accumulation of adversities (duration of exposure to any, economic, psychosocial) across the lifecourse (birth to 63 years) on cognitive function in older age, and the mediating role of mental health.
designNational birth cohort study.
settingGreat Britain.
participants5362 singleton births within marriage in England, Wales and Scotland born within 1 week of March 1946, of which 2131 completed at least 1 cognitive assessment.
main outcome measuresCognitive assessments included the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III, as a measure of cognitive state, processing speed (timed-letter search task), and verbal memory (word learning task) at 69 years. Scores were standardised to the analytical sample. Mental health at 60-64 years was assessed using the 28-item General Health Questionnaire, with scores standardised to the analytical sample.
resultsAfter adjusting for sex, increased duration of exposure to any adversity was associated with decreased performance on cognitive state (β=-0.39; 95% CI -0.59 to -0.20) and verbal memory (β=-0.45; 95% CI -0.63 to -0.27) at 69 years, although these effects were attenuated after adjusting for further covariates (childhood cognition and emotional problems, educational attainment). Analyses by type of adversity revealed stronger associations from economic adversity to verbal memory (β=-0.54; 95% CI -0.70 to -0.39), with a small effect remaining even after adjusting for all covariates (β=-0.18; 95% CI -0.32 to -0.03), and weaker associations from psychosocial adversity. Causal mediation analyses found that mental health mediated all associations between duration of exposure to adversity (any, economic, psychosocial) and cognitive function, with around 15% of the total effect of economic adversity on verbal memory attributable to mental health.
conclusionsImproving mental health among older adults has the potential to reduce cognitive impairments, as well as mitigate against some of the effect of lifecourse accumulation of adversity on cognitive performance in older age.
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