Adverse Childhood Experiences and Rate of Memory Decline From Mid to Later Life: Evidence From the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

Evidence on the role of early-life adversity in later-life memory decline is conflicting. We investigated the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and memory performance and rate of decline over a ten-year follow-up among mid-to-older adults in England. Data were from biennial interviews with 5,223 participants aged 54+ in the population-representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing from 2006/07-2016/17. We examined self-reports of nine ACEs prior to age 16, which related to abuse, household dysfunction, and separation from family. Memory was assessed at each time point as immediate and delayed recall of 10 words. Using linear mixed-effects models with person-specific random intercepts and slopes and adjusted for baseline age, age2, sex, ethnicity, and childhood socioeconomic factors, we observed that most individual and cumulative ACE exposures had null-to-weakly negative associations with memory function and rate of decline over the 10-year follow-up. Having lived in residential or foster care was associated with lower baseline memory (adjusted β = -0.124 standard deviation units, 95% confidence interval: -0.273, -0.025), but not memory decline. Our findings suggest potential long-run impacts of residential or foster care on memory, and highlight the need for accurate and detailed exposure measures when studying ACEs in relation to later-life cognitive outcomes.

Neurocognition and its association with adverse childhood experiences and familial risk of mental illness

“…Two other studies also reported similar findings, of better working memory in adults with a history of adverse/unpredictable childhoods (Mittal et al, 2015;Young et al, 2018). Another large population-based study, the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (n=5223), did not find any association between ACEs & memory decline (immediate and delayed recall) (O'Shea et al, 2021). A systematic review of studies looking at the association between ACEs and neurocognition in healthy individuals found a high degree of heterogeneity in methods & their findings (Su et al, 2019).…”

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Subjective Cognitive Decline in the US

“…To our knowledge, no study has examined the relationship between ACEs and SCD using a representative sample of the US. Prior research examined the relationship between ACEs and objective cognition (Gold et al, 2021; O’Shea et al, 2021), which suggests that adverse experiences in early life contribute to poorer cognitive outcomes as people age. Furthermore, SCD may be an early indicator of cognitive problems and is therefore important to consider in the context of aging and AD risk.…”

“…Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be associated with poorer objective cognition (Gold et al, 2021; O’Shea et al, 2021), but there has been limited research examining ACEs and subjective cognition. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) refers to the perception of worsening cognitive function or more frequent confusion or memory loss, albeit normal performance on standardized cognitive tests (Jessen et al, 2014; Studart & Nitrini, 2016).…”

“…Prior research examining the association between ACEs and cognition found that experiences such as parental death were associated with worse cognition among adults aged 65 and older in Northern California (Gold et al, 2021). Among a sample of participants aged 54 and older, individuals who had lived in foster care were more likely to score lower on baseline memory but not memory decline (O’Shea et al, 2021). Previous research has found that having three or more ACEs was linked to having an increased risk of dementia (Tani et al, 2020).…”

Adverse childhood experiences and cognitive function in adulthood: examining the roles of depressive symptoms and inflammation in a prospective cohort study

“…violence in the home, parental addiction, mental illness, or institutionalisation) [ 9 ]. A recent study, using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), demonstrated a mild association between ACEs and memory decline over ten years from middle to older age [ 10 ]. Memory, processing speed, and executive function deficits have also been associated with ACE exposure among middle-aged adults with depression [ 11 , 12 ].…”