Exposures and conditions prior to age 16 are associated with dementia status among adults in the United States Health and Retirement Study

Background Dementia susceptibility likely begins years before symptoms. Early life has not been comprehensively tested for dementia associations. Method In the US Health and Retirement Study (normal baseline cognition; n=16,509; 2008-2018 waves), 31 exposures before age 16 were retrospectively assessed with ten-year incident cognitive status (dementia, impaired, normal). Using parallel logistic models, each exposure was tested with incident cognition, adjusting for sex, baseline age, follow-up, race/ethnicity, personal/parental education. Result 14.5% had incident impairment and 5.3% had dementia. Depression was associated with 1.71 (95%CI:1.28,2.26) times higher odds of incident impairment, relative to normal cognition. Headaches/migraines were associated with 1.63 (95%CI:1.18,2.22) times higher odds of incident impairment. Learning problems were associated with 1.75 (95%CI:1.05,2.79) times higher odds of incident impairment. Childhood self-rated health of fair (1.86, 95%CI:1.27,2.64) and poor (3.39, 95%CI:1.91,5.82) were associated with higher incident dementia odds, relative to excellent. Conclusion Early life factors may be important for impairment or dementia, extending the relevant risk window.