Exposure to negative physical and social factors accelerates brain aging

In a study that included 18,701 people from 34 countries, 73 aggregated physical and social exposomes exhibited nonlinear, synergistic effects that accelerated brain aging. In some cases, these effects were comparable to or stronger than those of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Environmental inequities might shape brain aging and demand multisectoral and structural policy responses. Access to this article via Institution of Civil Engineers Library is not available.

Udeh-Momoh, C. T.

et al. Resilience and brain health in global populations.

Nat. Med.

8 , 2518–2531 (2025). This article shows that structural environmental conditions can shape vulnerability and resilience.

Moguilner, S. et al.

Brain clocks capture diversity and disparities in aging and dementia across geographically diverse populations. Nat.

Med. 30 , 3646–3657 (2024).

This study validates multimodal brain clocks across diverse populations and establishes key methodological foundations for the present work. Migeot, J.

et al. Social exposome and brain health outcomes of dementia across Latin America.

Nat. Commun.

16 , 8196 (2025). This paper supports the importance of considering individual-level social exposome indicators when examining brain health.

Hernandez, H. et al.