Seniors who are more likely to fall for financial scams might have brain changes linked to a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to latest research. The new study was led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (USC stands for the University of Southern California).
Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia – Some Statistics
In the US, 7 million people are living with Alzheimer’s, which is the fifth leading cause of death among seniors (aged 65+), According to the Alzheimer’s Association (PDF).
In the UK, about 900,000 people were living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia in 2022. According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s and dementia are the UK’s leading cause of death (11.4% of all deaths).
About the Study
A team of researchers, led by Duke Han, a psychology and family medicine professor at USC Dornsife, investigated the connection between early Alzheimer’s disease and financial vulnerability. They conducted the study by utilizing high-powered MRI technology to examine the brains of 97 participants aged 50+.
The Entorhinal Cortex and Alzheimer’s Disease
The team focused on the entorhinal cortex, which acts as a relay stain between the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex. The hippocampus is the brain’s learning and memory center while the prefrontal cortex regulates motivation, emotion, and other cognitive functions.
The entorhinal cortex is often the first region in the brain to show changes in Alzheimer’s disease, typically becoming thinner as the disease advances.
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Participants Appeared Mentally Healthy
None of the participants in the study, who were from 52 to 83 years’ old, showed clinical signs of cognitive impairment. They all underwent MRI scans to measure the thickness of their entorhinal cortex.
The researchers also used the Perceived Financial Exploitation Vulnerability Scale (PFVS) to assess participants’ financial awareness and susceptibility to poor financial decisions, which they referred to as ‘financial exploitation vulnerability’ (FEV).
FEV and Thinner Entorhinal Cortexes
The study revealed a significant link between thinner entorhinal cortexes and greater FEV, especially in those over 70. Previous research has connected FEV to mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and certain brain changes related to Alzheimer’s disease.
A New Clinical Tool?
Han says that their findings provide crucial evidence supporting the idea that FEV could serve as a new clinical tool for detecting cognitive changes in older adults—changes that are typically subtle and hard to identify.
Han said:
“Assessing financial vulnerability in older adults could help identify those who are in the early stages of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.”
Financial vulnerability alone isn’t a definitive indicator of cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s, he added. However, “FEV could become part of a broader risk file.”
Study Limitations
Regarding the study’s limitations, Han pointed out the following limitations:
- Most of the participants were highly educated, older, white women, making it difficult to apply the finding to a more diverse population.
- Even though the study discovered a link between FEV and entorhinal cortex thickness, it did not prove one.
- Their research did not include specific measures of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.
Because of these limitations, it is not possible to rule out the possibility that the relationship between entorhinal cortex thinning and FEV could be due to other factors.
Long-term research with diverse populations is required before FEV can be considered as a valid or credible cognitive assessment tool.
About the Study and Authors
The study authors were Duke Han, Jenna Axelrod, Laura Fenton, Aaron Lim, and Daisy Noriega-Makarskyy of USC Dornsife; Hussein Yassine, Lauren Salminen, and Laura Mosqueda of Keck School of Medicine of USC; Annie Nguyen of the University of California, San Diego; and Gali Weissberger of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.
Citation
Laura Fenton, Lauren E Salminen, Aaron C Lim, Gali H Weissberger, Annie L Nguyen, Jenna Axelrod, Daisy Noriega-Makarskyy, Hussein Yassine, Laura Mosqueda, S Duke Han, Lower entorhinal cortex thickness is associated with greater financial exploitation vulnerability in cognitively unimpaired older adults, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 34, Issue 9, September 2024, bhae360, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae360