Neighborhood resources and risk of cognitive decline among a community-dwelling long-term care population in the U.S.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between neighborhood resources (i.e., number of restaurants, recreation centers, or social services for seniors and persons with disability per land area) and cognitive decline among a community-dwelling long-term care population and whether they differ by baseline cognition status.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal cohort study.

METHODS: We used a longitudinal dataset that assessed over a two-year period older adults receiving state-funded home- and community-based services in Michigan Metropolitan areas (N = 9,802) and applied nonlinear mixed models with a random intercept with Poisson distribution.

RESULTS: Cognitively intact older adults were less likely to experience cognitive decline when they resided in resource-rich neighborhoods, compared to those cognitively intact but living in neighborhoods that lacked resources. But their cognitively impaired or dementia-diagnosed counterparts did not similarly benefit from living in neighborhoods with rich resources.

CONCLUSIONS: Neighborhood resources may be an important aspect of intervention to mitigate cognitive decline before older adults become cognitively impaired.