Urbanicity, Neighborhood Conditions, and Dementia Mortality

How are urbanicity and neighborhood socioeconomic and environmental conditions associated with dementia mortality?In this cohort study of 40 948 445 individuals in England followed up from 2011 to 2023, curvilinear inverted U-shaped associations of dementia mortality and urbanicity were found, with the highest risk at intermediate urbanicity. Neighborhood conditions attenuated most of this gradient, and modest improvements in service accessibility and outdoor living environment were associated with up to a 10.5% estimated reduction in dementia deaths.These findings highlight that understanding the urbanicity gradient in dementia mortality and contributions of underlying neighborhood factors can inform targeted interventions to mitigate dementia burden and improve equity.

Corresponding Author: Shujuan Chen, MS, The Martin Centre, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, 1-5 Scroope Terrace, Cambridge CB2 1PX, United Kingdom (sc2343@cam.ac.uk).

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