Abstract
Natural Disasters Across the Life Course and Cognitive Health Among U.S. Older Adults
Ying Huang, PhD, Associate Professor, Sociology and Demography, UT San Antonio
This project examines how lifelong exposure to natural disasters shapes cognitive aging among U.S. older adults. As the nation faces rapid population aging alongside intensifying disasters, dementia cases are projected to nearly double (from 7.2 million to 13.8 million by 2060). Disasters can disrupt medical care, damage housing, erode financial security, and fracture social networks. Repeated exposure to natural disasters can create sustained stress and behavioral changes that may accelerate cognitive decline, which is a key risk factor for dementia.
Using the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study linked to the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database, the project will (1) generate the first national typology of disaster exposure trajectories over the life course; (2) identify populations disproportionately burdened by cumulative disaster risk; and (3) provide new evidence on the mechanisms linking disaster exposure to cognitive aging. By reframing disasters as long-term, socially patterned exposures, this study will advance understanding of environmental contributors to AD/ADRD.