scholarly journals Gender Differences in Cognitive Performance in Old Age

GeroPsych ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Praetorius ◽  
Valgeir Thorvaldsson ◽  
Boo Johansson ◽  
Linda B. Hassing
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Twin Study ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Very Old Age ◽  
Rate Of Decline

Objective: To examine gender differences in level and change of cognitive performance in the oldest old while accounting for gender differences in longevity. Method: 574 individuals, aged 80 years and older, from the OCTO Twin Study. Five cognitive domains were administered at five occasions at 2-year intervals. Results: There were no cognitive differences between men and women, with the exception that men showed a steeper rate of decline in semantic memory. This effect was driven by men who had developed dementia and declined at a faster rate than women. Conclusion: Our results support previous findings showing minor to nonexisting gender differences in cognition among nondemented individuals in very old age when taking gender differences in longevity into account.

scholarly journals Cognitive dispersion and ApoEe4 genotype predict dementia diagnosis in 8-year follow-up of the oldest-old

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tam Watermeyer ◽  
Jantje Goerdten ◽  
Boo Johansson ◽  
Graciela Muniz-Terrera
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Carrier Status ◽  
Dementia Diagnosis ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Dementia Incidence ◽  
Composite Scores

Abstract Background Cognitive dispersion, or inconsistencies in performance across cognitive domains, has been posited as a cost-effective tool to predict conversion to dementia in older adults. However, there is a dearth of studies exploring cognitive dispersion in the oldest-old (>80 years) and its relationship to dementia incidence. Objective The main aim of this study was to examine whether higher cognitive dispersion at baseline was associated with dementia incidence within an 8-year follow-up of very old adults, while controlling for established risk factors and suggested protective factors for dementia. Methods Participants (n = 468) were from the Origins of Variance in the Old-Old: Octogenarian Twins study, based on the Swedish Twin Registry. Cox regression analyses were performed to assess the association between baseline cognitive dispersion scores and dementia incidence, while controlling for sociodemographic variables, ApoEe4 carrier status, co-morbidities, zygosity and lifestyle engagement scores. An additional model included a composite of average cognitive performance. Results Cognitive dispersion and ApoEe4 were significantly associated with dementia diagnosis. These variables remained statistically significant when global cognitive performance was entered into the model. Likelihood ratio tests revealed that cognitive dispersion and cognitive composite scores entered together in the same model was superior to either predictor alone in the full model. Conclusions The study underscores the usefulness of cognitive dispersion metrics for dementia prediction in the oldest-old and highlights the influence of ApoEe4 on cognition in very late age. Our findings concur with others suggesting that health and lifestyle factors pose little impact upon cognition in very advanced age.

Terminal decline and cognitive performance in very old age: Does cause of death matter?

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent J. Small ◽  
Laura Fratiglioni ◽  
Eva von Strauss ◽  
Lars Bäckman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Very Old Age

Reflections of men and women in advanced old age on being born the other sex

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-205
Author(s):  
LENA ALÉX ◽  
BERIT LUNDMAN ◽  
ANNE HAMMARSTRÖM
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
The Other ◽  
Populated Area ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Physical Strength ◽  
Women's Narratives ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Gender Perspectives

ABSTRACTThe study reported in this paper is part of the Umeå 85+ project in Sweden. The aim was to investigate gender perspectives among ‘the oldest old’, by asking men and women in advanced old age living in a sparsely populated area of northern Sweden to reflect on how life might have been if they had been born the other sex. Thematic narratives from nine men and seven women were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The content of these narratives was resolved into eight categories in two domains, respectively men's and women's reflections about being born the opposite sex. The narratives of both the men and women indicated that they were satisfied with their actual birth sex. The men were aware that if they had been born female, they would probably have experienced more hard work and had a more restricted life, and they were conscious of both women's relative powerlessness and their greater ability to manage and organise work within the home. The women's narratives described a femininity characterised by longing for a state of being unconcerned when young, and their narratives also displayed awareness of women's physical strength and that men's lives had also been hard.

scholarly journals Associations between White Matter Microstructure and Cognitive Performance in Old and Very Old Age

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. e81419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika J. Laukka ◽  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Grégoria Kalpouzos ◽  
Tie-Qiang Li ◽  
Tomas Jonsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Very Old ◽  
White Matter Microstructure ◽  
Very Old Age

Bereavement in Very Old Age: Impact on Health and Relationships of the Loss of a Spouse, a Child, a Sibling, or a Close Friend

2010 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian J. Lalive d'Epinay ◽  
Stefano Cavalli ◽  
Luc A. Guillet
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Functional Status ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Close Friend ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Very Old Age

This article deals with the following two questions: In very old age, which are the main sources of bereavement? And what are the consequences of such losses on health and on relationships? The findings are based on the complete set of data compiled in the course of the Swiss Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on the Oldest Old (SWILSOO), which provided a 10-year follow-up of a first cohort (1994–2004) and a 5-year follow-up of a second (1999–2004). The data revealed that, in very old age, the great majority of the dear ones who died were either siblings or close friends. Taken as a whole, the bereaved suffered a marked and lasting increase in depressive symptoms, together with a short-term deterioration in their functional status; those bereft of a spouse or a child saw their functional status worsen and exhibited enduring depressive symptoms but they also benefited from support in the form of increased interaction; those bereft of siblings only suffered from a mild, short-term deterioration in functional status; those who had lost a close friend suffered a very significant increase in depressive symptoms. In the medium term, most of these effects disappeared, lending weight to the claim that the survivors manage to cope with the misfortunes of life.

scholarly journals Cognitive Differences in the Older Adults Living in the General Community: Gender and Mental Occupational State Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 3106
Author(s):  
Estela Calatayud ◽  
Carlos Salavera ◽  
Isabel Gómez-Soria
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
The Difference ◽  
General Community

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to cognitive impairment with age, and gender differences are remarkable. However, there is very little evidence to identify both baseline cognitive and occupational gender differences prior to older adults’ retirement to design more efficient personalized cognitive interventions. This descriptive observational study examined gender differences in initial cognitive performance in 367 older adults with subjective memory complaints from a primary healthcare center in Zaragoza (Spain). To evaluate initial cognitive performance, the Spanish version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MEC-35) and the set test were used to measure verbal fluency. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated, and cognitive and occupational differences were analyzed per gender. Men had higher educational and occupational levels, were older and more of them were married (p < 0.001) than women. Regarding cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes and cerebrovascular accidents were more frequent in women, while hypercholesterolemia and obesity were more frequent in men (p < 0.001). High blood pressure was more frequent in women, but not significantly so (p = 0.639). Global cognition was higher in men (p < 0.001) for attention, calculation, and language (p < 0.001). Verbal fluency was higher in women, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.105). These results could be generalized to other health centers in the province and other Spanish autonomous communities as their sociodemographic variables are similar. Individualized interventions that adapt to gender, cognitive and initial occupational performance should be developed and adapted to elderly populations living in the general community to maintain their cognitive capacity and prevent their cognitive impairment and the social health costs this would imply.

Longitudinal Cognition-Survival Relations in Old and Very Old Age

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Ghisletta ◽  
John J. McArdle ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Cognitive Variables ◽  
Age At Death ◽  
Linear Change ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Very Old Age

We use a statistical model that combines longitudinal and survival analyses to estimate the influence of level and change in cognition on age at death in old and very old individuals. Data are from the Berlin Aging Study, in which an initial sample of 516 elderly individuals with an age range of 70 to 103 years was assessed up to 11 times across a period of up to 13 years. Four cognitive ability domains were assessed by two variables each: perceptual speed (Digit Letter and Identical Pictures), episodic memory (Paired Associates and Memory for Text), fluency (Categories and Word Beginnings), and verbal knowledge (Vocabulary and Spot-a-Word). Longitudinal models on cognition controlled for dementia diagnosis and retest effects, while survival models on age at death controlled for age, sex, socioeconomic status, sensory and motor performance, and broad personality characteristics. Results indicate: (1) Individual differences in the level of and in the linear change in performance are present for all cognitive variables; (2) when analyzed independently of cognitive performance, all covariates, except broad personality factors, predict survival; (3) when cognitive performance is accounted for, age, sex, and motor performance do predict survival, while socioeconomic status and broad personality factors do not, and sensory performance does only at times; (4) when cognitive variables are analyzed independently of each other, both level and change in speed and fluency, as well as level in memory and knowledge predict survival; (5) when all cognitive variables are analyzed simultaneously using a two-stage procedure, none of them is significantly associated to survival. In agreement with others, our findings suggest that survival is related to cognitive development in old and very old age in a relatively global, rather than ability-specific, manner.

scholarly journals Gender differences in cognitive performance and health status in the Faroese Septuagenarians cohort

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Skaalum Petersen ◽  
Fróði Debes ◽  
Philippe Grandjean ◽  
Pál Weihe
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Gender Difference ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cardiovascular Events ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
And Gender

Abstract The aim was to determine cognitive performance and health status in the Faroese Septuagenarians cohort in relation to gender differences. In this cross-sectional study of 713 Faroese septuagenarians who underwent a clinical, neurophysiological and neuropsychological examinations and questionnaire, women performed better on tests covering the memory domain, while there was no gender difference in other cognitive domains. Men suffered more frequently from cardiovascular events while women more frequently suffered from arthrosis, hypothyroidism and muscle pain. We observed a considerable heterogeneity and gender difference in some cognitive domains and health in Faroese septuagenarians.

How are Temporal and Social Comparisons Related to Appraisals of Self-Rated Health During Very Old Age?

2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Spini ◽  
Alain Clémence ◽  
Paolo Ghisletta
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Oldest Old ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Direction Of Effects ◽  
Very Old Age ◽  
Positive Effect

This study investigated the direction of effects of temporal and downward social comparisons on self-rated health in very old age. Conversely, self-rated health can either reinforce or hinder comparison processes. In the framework of the Swiss Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on the Oldest Old, individuals aged 80 to 84 at baseline were interviewed and followed longitudinally for 5 years. Multilevel analyses were used to test the relative importance of temporal and social comparisons on self-rated health evaluations synchronically and diachronically (with a time lag of 12 to 18 months) as well as the direction of these relative influences. Results indicate that (a) at the synchronic level, continuity temporal comparisons have more impact than downward social comparisons on self-rated health; (b) both types of comparison had an independent and positive effect on self-rated health at the diachronic level; (c) self-rated health has an independent synchronic effect on both types of comparison and an independent diachronic effect in temporal comparison.

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