scholarly journals Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Cognitive Function Later in Life: Evidence From a National Survey in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 214-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asri Maharani
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Childhood Poverty ◽  
Childhood Conditions

Introduction: Social and economic conditions in childhood have been found to predict cognitive ability in midlife and old age in high-income countries. This study examines the long-term effect of childhood conditions on cognition among a nationally representative sample of older adults in a low- and middle-income country. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from the 2014 to 2015 Indonesia Family Life Survey Wave 5 (6676 respondents, aged 50 years and older). Cognitive function was assessed based on total score on a series of tests adapted from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Retrospective information was collected on childhood poverty, with questions including whether respondents ever experienced hunger before age 15, whether basic facilities were available, and the number of books in the childhood home. We used linear regression to examine the association between childhood conditions and cognitive function in later life. Results: The findings show that the numbers of facilities and books available in childhood homes are substantially associated with cognition in later life after taking adulthood characteristics into account. Childhood hunger has no significant association with cognitive ability in later life. Belonging to an older birth cohort and living in a rural area were shown to have negative associations with cognitive ability in Indonesia. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that childhood poverty, birth cohort, and living in a rural area may contribute to cognitive aging in Indonesia. Policies and interventions that target childhood poverty in developing countries may also recognize the rural–urban divide in access to educational and other socioeconomic resources.

scholarly journals Perception of Neighborhood Characteristics During Childhood and Cognitive Health Among Older Adults in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 439-439
Author(s):  
Changmin Peng ◽  
Sae Hwang Han ◽  
Jeffrey Burr
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Neighborhood Characteristics ◽  
Neighborhood Safety ◽  
Cognitive Health ◽  
Childhood Conditions ◽  
Neighborhood Environments

Abstract Neighborhood environments shape the availability of resources for social engagement and social interaction, which are associated with better health outcomes. However, these contextual factors are also considered sources of potential social distress and tension, increasing the risk of subsequent health deficits, including cognitive decline. Our understanding of the linkage between childhood neighborhood environments and cognitive functioning in later life is limited. This study employed three waves of nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2015; N = 11,105) to investigate the relationship between self-reported neighborhood social cohesion during childhood (i.e., neighborhood safety, neighbors willing to help, and close-knit neighborhood) and cognitive functioning (Chinese version of TICS). We employed latent growth curve modeling to test hypotheses relating to life course models of childhood conditions and later life cognitive functioning (the long arm of childhood). The results showed that perceptions regarding the willingness of neighbors to help and close-knit neighborhood characteristics during childhood were positively associated with levels of later life cognitive function. Further, growing up in a neighborhood characterized by the willingness of neighbors to help others was negatively associated with the rate of cognitive decline, net of childhood and adulthood covariates. Self-report of neighborhood safety during childhood was unrelated to cognitive function (level and change). These findings underscored the long-term ramifications of childhood conditions as potential risk factors for later-life cognitive health. Social cohesion at the neighborhood level as experienced during childhood may be a protective factor for healthy cognitive aging among older Chinese adults.

Investigating Predictors of Preserved Cognitive Function in Older Women Using Machine Learning: Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ramon Casanova ◽  
Sarah A. Gaussoin ◽  
Robert Wallace ◽  
Laura Baker ◽  
Jiu-Chiuan Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Women's Health Initiative ◽  
Women’S Health Initiative ◽  
Health Initiative

Background: Identification of factors that may help to preserve cognitive function in late life could elucidate mechanisms and facilitate interventions to improve the lives of millions of people. However, the large number of potential factors associated with cognitive function poses an analytical challenge. Objective: We used data from the longitudinal Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) and machine learning to investigate 50 demographic, biomedical, behavioral, social, and psychological predictors of preserved cognitive function in later life. Methods: Participants in WHIMS and two consecutive follow up studies who were at least 80 years old and had at least one cognitive assessment following their 80th birthday were classified as cognitively preserved. Preserved cognitive function was defined as having a score ≥39 on the most recent administration of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICSm) and a mean score across all assessments ≥39. Cognitively impaired participants were those adjudicated by experts to have probable dementia or at least two adjudications of mild cognitive impairment within the 14 years of follow-up and a last TICSm score <  31. Random Forests was used to rank the predictors of preserved cognitive function. Results: Discrimination between groups based on area under the curve was 0.80 (95%-CI-0.76–0.85). Women with preserved cognitive function were younger, better educated, and less forgetful, less depressed, and more optimistic at study enrollment. They also reported better physical function and less sleep disturbance, and had lower systolic blood pressure, hemoglobin, and blood glucose levels. Conclusion: The predictors of preserved cognitive function include demographic, psychological, physical, metabolic, and vascular factors suggesting a complex mix of potential contributors.

scholarly journals Education and Cognitive Functioning Across the Life Span

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Laura Fratiglioni ◽  
M. Maria Glymour ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger ◽  
Elliot M. Tucker-Drob
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Positive Effects

Cognitive abilities are important predictors of educational and occupational performance, socioeconomic attainment, health, and longevity. Declines in cognitive abilities are linked to impairments in older adults’ everyday functions, but people differ from one another in their rates of cognitive decline over the course of adulthood and old age. Hence, identifying factors that protect against compromised late-life cognition is of great societal interest. The number of years of formal education completed by individuals is positively correlated with their cognitive function throughout adulthood and predicts lower risk of dementia late in life. These observations have led to the propositions that prolonging education might (a) affect cognitive ability and (b) attenuate aging-associated declines in cognition. We evaluate these propositions by reviewing the literature on educational attainment and cognitive aging, including recent analyses of data harmonized across multiple longitudinal cohort studies and related meta-analyses. In line with the first proposition, the evidence indicates that educational attainment has positive effects on cognitive function. We also find evidence that cognitive abilities are associated with selection into longer durations of education and that there are common factors (e.g., parental socioeconomic resources) that affect both educational attainment and cognitive development. There is likely reciprocal interplay among these factors, and among cognitive abilities, during development. Education–cognitive ability associations are apparent across the entire adult life span and across the full range of education levels, including (to some degree) tertiary education. However, contrary to the second proposition, we find that associations between education and aging-associated cognitive declines are negligible and that a threshold model of dementia can account for the association between educational attainment and late-life dementia risk. We conclude that educational attainment exerts its influences on late-life cognitive function primarily by contributing to individual differences in cognitive skills that emerge in early adulthood but persist into older age. We also note that the widespread absence of educational influences on rates of cognitive decline puts constraints on theoretical notions of cognitive aging, such as the concepts of cognitive reserve and brain maintenance. Improving the conditions that shape development during the first decades of life carries great potential for improving cognitive ability in early adulthood and for reducing public-health burdens related to cognitive aging and dementia.

scholarly journals Dietary glycaemic index and cognitive function: prospective associations in adults of the 1946 British birth cohort

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1415-1424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Philippou ◽  
Gerda K Pot ◽  
Alexandros Heraclides ◽  
Marcus Richards ◽  
Rebecca Bendayan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Glycaemic Index ◽  
Life Course Perspective ◽  
Occupational Social Class ◽  
Rate Of Decline ◽  
Letter Search

AbstractObjectiveEvidence suggests that the rate of glucose release following consumption of carbohydrate-containing foods, defined as the glycaemic index (GI), is inversely associated with cognitive function. To date, most of the evidence stems from either single-meal studies or highly heterogeneous cohort studies. We aimed to study the prospective associations of diet GI at age 53 years with outcomes of verbal memory and letter search tests at age 69 years and rate of decline between 53 and 69 years.DesignLongitudinal population-based birth cohort study.SettingMRC National Survey for Health and Development.ParticipantsCohort members (n 1252).ResultsUsing multivariable linear and logistic regression, adjusted for potential confounders, associations of higher-GI diet with lower verbal memory, lower letter search speed and lower number of hits in a letter search test were attenuated after adjustments for cognitive ability at age 15 years, educational attainment, further training and occupational social class. No association was observed between diet GI at 53 years and letter search accuracy or speed–accuracy trade-off at 69 years, or between diet GI at 53 years and rate of decline between 53 and 69 years in any cognitive measure.ConclusionsDiet GI does not appear to predict cognitive function or decline, which was mainly explained by childhood cognitive ability, education and occupational social class. Our findings confirm the need for further research on the association between diet and cognition from a life-course perspective.

Serum cholesterol and cognitive functions: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janie Corley ◽  
John M. Starr ◽  
Ian J. Deary
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Serum Cholesterol ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Lothian Birth Cohort ◽  
Statin Use

ABSTRACTBackground:We examined the associations between serum cholesterol measures, statin use, and cognitive function measured in childhood and in old age. The possibility that lifelong (trait) cognitive ability accounts for any cross-sectional associations between cholesterol and cognitive performance in older age, seen in observational studies, has not been tested to date.Methods:Participants were 1,043 men and women from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study, most of whom had participated in a nationwide IQ-type test in childhood (Scottish Mental Survey of 1947), and were followed up at about age 70 years. Serum cholesterol measures included total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, and cholesterol:HDL cholesterol ratio. Cognitive outcome measures were age 70 IQ (using the same test as at age 11 years), general cognitive ability (g), processing speed, memory, and verbal ability.Results:Higher TC, higher HDL-C, and lower triglycerides were associated with higher age 70 cognitive scores in most cognitive domains. These relationships were no longer significant after covarying for childhood IQ, with the exception a markedly attenuated association between TC and processing speed, and triglycerides and age 70 IQ. In the fully adjusted model, all conventionally significant (p < 0.05) effects were removed. Childhood IQ predicted statin use in old age. Statin users had lower g, processing speed, and verbal ability scores at age 70 years after covarying for childhood IQ, but significance was lost after adjusting for TC levels.Conclusions:These results suggest that serum cholesterol and cognitive function are associated in older age via the lifelong stable trait of intelligence. Potential mechanisms, including lifestyle factors, are discussed.

scholarly journals Investment Trait, Activity Engagement, and Age: Independent Effects on Cognitive Ability

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie von Stumm
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Activity Engagement ◽  
Investment Theory

In cognitive aging research, the “engagement hypothesis” suggests that the participation in cognitively demanding activities helps maintain better cognitive performance in later life. In differential psychology, the “investment” theory proclaims that age differences in cognition are influenced by personality traits that determine when, where, and how people invest their ability. Although both models follow similar theoretical rationales, they differ in their emphasis of behavior (i.e., activity engagement) versus predisposition (i.e., investment trait). The current study compared a cognitive activity engagement scale (i.e., frequency of participation) with an investment trait scale (i.e., need for cognition) and tested their relationship with age differences in cognition in 200 British adults. Age was negatively associated with fluid and positively with crystallized ability but had no relationship with need for cognition and activity engagement. Need for cognition was positively related to activity engagement and cognitive performance; activity engagement, however, was not associated with cognitive ability. Thus, age differences in cognitive ability were largely independent of engagement and investment.

scholarly journals Differential Fasting Plasma Glucose and Ketone Body Levels in GHRKO versus 3xTg-AD Mice: A Potential Contributor to Aging-Related Cognitive Status?

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea M. Griffith ◽  
Lauren N. Macklin ◽  
Andrzej Bartke ◽  
Peter R. Patrylo
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Plasma Glucose ◽  
Fasting Plasma Glucose ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Ketone Body ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Fasting Plasma ◽  
Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
The Brain

Cognitive function declines with age and appears to correlate with decreased cerebral metabolic rate (CMR). Caloric restriction, an antiaging manipulation that extends life-span and can preserve cognitive function, is associated with decreased glucose uptake, decreased lactate levels, and increased ketone body (KB) levels in the brain. Since the majority of brain nutrients come from the periphery, this study examined whether the capacity to regulate peripheral glucose levels and KB production differs in animals with successful cognitive aging (growth hormone receptor knockouts, GHRKOs) versus unsuccessful cognitive aging (the 3xTg-AD mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease). Animals were fasted for 5 hours with their plasma glucose and KB levels subsequently measured. Intriguingly, in GHRKO mice, compared to those in controls, fasting plasma glucose levels were significantly decreased while their KB levels were significantly increased. Conversely, 3xTg-AD mice, compared to controls, exhibited significantly elevated plasma glucose levels and significantly reduced plasma KB levels. Taken together, these results suggest that the capacity to provide the brain with KBs versus glucose throughout an animal’s life could somehow help preserve cognitive function with age, potentially through minimizing overall brain exposure to reactive oxygen species and advanced glycation end products and improving mitochondrial function.

scholarly journals High daytime and nighttime ambulatory pulse pressure predict poor cognitive function and mild cognitive impairment in hypertensive individuals

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iolanda Riba-Llena ◽  
Cristina Nafría ◽  
Josefina Filomena ◽  
José L Tovar ◽  
Ernest Vinyoles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Pulse Wave Velocity ◽  
Wave Velocity ◽  
Pulse Pressure ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Pulse Wave ◽  
Cognitive Status

High blood pressure accelerates normal aging stiffness process. Arterial stiffness (AS) has been previously associated with impaired cognitive function and dementia. Our aims are to study how cognitive function and status (mild cognitive impairment, MCI and normal cognitive aging, NCA) relate to AS in a community-based population of hypertensive participants assessed with office and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurements. Six hundred ninety-nine participants were studied, 71 had MCI and the rest had NCA. Office pulse pressure (PP), carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity, and 24-hour ambulatory PP monitoring were collected. Also, participants underwent a brain magnetic resonance to study cerebral small–vessel disease (cSVD) lesions. Multivariate analysis–related cognitive function and cognitive status to AS measurements after adjusting for demographic, vascular risk factors, and cSVD. Carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity and PP at different periods were inversely correlated with several cognitive domains, but only awake PP measurements were associated with attention after correcting for confounders (beta = −0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.41, −0.03). All ambulatory PP measurements were related to MCI, which was independently associated with nocturnal PP (odds ratio (OR) = 2.552, 95% CI 1.137, 5.728) and also related to the presence of deep white matter hyperintensities (OR = 1.903, 1.096, 3.306). Therefore, higher day and night ambulatory PP measurements are associated with poor cognitive outcomes.

scholarly journals Identifying the lifetime cognitive and socioeconomic antecedents of cognitive state: seven decades of follow-up in a British birth cohort study

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e024404 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Richards ◽  
Sarah-Naomi James ◽  
Alison Sizer ◽  
Nikhil Sharma ◽  
Mark Rawle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Birth Cohort Study ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
Occupational Complexity

ObjectivesThe life course determinants of midlife and later life cognitive function have been studied using longitudinal population-based cohort data, but far less is known about whether the pattern of these pathways is similar or distinct for clinically relevant cognitive state. We investigated this for Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination third edition (ACE-III), used in clinical settings to screen for cognitive impairment and dementia.DesignLongitudinal birth cohort study.SettingResidential addresses in England, Wales and Scotland.Participants1762 community-dwelling men and women of European heritage, enrolled since birth in the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Survey of Health and Development (the British 1946 birth cohort).Primary outcomeACE-III.ResultsPath modelling estimated direct and indirect associations between apolipoprotein E (APOE) status, father’s social class, childhood cognition, education, midlife occupational complexity, midlife verbal ability (National Adult Reading Test; NART), and the total ACE-III score. Controlling for sex, there was a direct negative association betweenAPOEε4 and the ACE-III score (β=−0.04 [–0.08 to –0.002], p=0.04), but not betweenAPOEε4 and childhood cognition (β=0.03 [–0.006 to 0.069], p=0.10) or the NART (β=0.0005 [–0.03 to 0.03], p=0.97). The strongest influences on the ACE-III were from childhood cognition (β=0.20 [0.14 to 0.26], p<0.001) and the NART (β=0.35 [0.29 to 0.41], p<0.001); educational attainment and occupational complexity were modestly and independently associated with the ACE-III (β=0.08 [0.03 to 0.14], p=0.002 and β=0.05 [0.01 to 0.10], p=0.02, respectively).ConclusionsThe ACE-III in the general population shows a pattern of life course antecedents that is similar to neuropsychological measures of cognitive function, and may be used to represent normal cognitive ageing as well as a screen for cognitive impairment and dementia.

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