Physical Functioning, Crime, and Cognitive Decline in Mexican Americans: A Multi-Level Analysis of Protective Interactions

ObjectiveHispanic individuals are understudied in cognitive aging research and are disproportionately exposed to crime, yet the cognitive consequences of this exposure remain unclear. We examined whether county-level crime moderates the association between physical functioning (PF) and cognitive change among Mexican Americans aged 75 years and older without cognitive impairment at baseline.MethodsParticipants included 1,189 older adults from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (HEPESE). Cognitive functioning was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), PF was assessed using performance-based measures, and total crime was measured at the county level. Multilevel models adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, and cardiovascular factors.ResultsBetter PF was associated with higher MMSE scores. A significant interaction among PF, crime, and time indicated that the protective association between PF and cognitive functioning weakened as county-level crime increased. Higher PF predicted less cognitive decline in low- and moderate-crime areas, although this association was attenuated in moderate-crime contexts and largely absent in high-crime areas.DiscussionCounty-level crime may undermine the cognitive benefits of better PF in late life. These findings underscore the role of contextual factors in cognitive aging among older Mexican Americans and highlight potential targets for community-level prevention efforts.