Social and behavioral risk factors are associated with age-related differences in sustained attention: A cross-sectional GradCPT analysis of the All of Us dataset

Abstract

Background Attentional control declines with normal aging, yet the role of modifiable lifestyle factors in accelerating this decline remains incompletely characterised in large, diverse populations. We examined associations between four modifiable risk factors (smoking intensity, alcohol binge drinking, social satisfaction and blood pressure) and sustained attention performance in 13,866 adults drawn from the All of Us Research Program. Methods Cognitive performance was assessed using the Gradual-Onset Continuous Performance Task (GradCPT). A composite cognitive efficiency score was derived via principal component analysis of four GradCPT metrics: d′ (perceptual sensitivity), response criterion, median reaction time and reaction time variability. Associations between cognitive efficiency and each risk factor were examined using multiple linear regression adjusted for age, sex and race/ethnicity. Effect sizes were expressed as age-equivalent years of cognitive aging (age-equivalent years = regression coefficient for the risk factor divided by the regression coefficient for age) to aid clinical interpretation. Results GradCPT performance declined progressively with age (p < 0.001). Social satisfaction emerged as the strongest lifestyle predictor: low social satisfaction was associated with approximately 5.8 additional age-equivalent years of cognitive aging relative to high social satisfaction. Smoking showed a dose-response pattern, with heavy smokers (> 20 cigarettes/day) exhibiting an approximately 5-year age-equivalent deficit versus never-smokers. Stage 2 hypertension showed a modest, non-significant negative association. Binge drinking showed limited significant associations, likely complicated by survivor and abstainer biases. Bootstrapped analyses of combined exposures showed that combinations of risk factors, particularly those involving low social satisfaction, produced larger cognitive deficits than expected under an additive model. Conclusions These findings support an interactive rather than a purely additive model of lifestyle-related cognitive vulnerability and highlight the GradCPT as a subclinical measure of attention-based cognitive risk in non-clinical populations. Keywords Cognitive aging, Sustained attention, GradCPT, Modifiable risk factors, Social isolation, Smoking, Hypertension, All of Us Research Program