scholarly journals Association of Life Course Socioeconomic Status and Adult Height With Cognitive Capacity Among Older Adults in India and China: A Cross-Sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Selvamani ◽  
P Arokiasamy

Abstract BackgroundCognitive ability is an important measure of intrinsic capacity. In this study, we examine the association of life course socioeconomic status (SES) and height on cognitive functioning among older adults aged 50 and above for the two middle-income countries of India and China. We further assess the age pattern of cognitive decline with measures of life course socioeconomic status. MethodsCross-sectional comparative analysis was conducted using the WHO’s Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) data for India and China. Multilevel mixed-effect regression analysis was used to predict the association of life course socioeconomic status, height with cognitive functioning. ResultsIn India and China, better childhood socioeconomic status measured as parental education is positively associated with cognitive functioning. The association between adult socioeconomic status and cognitive functioning was positive and highly significant. Height was significantly associated with improved cognitive functioning for India and China. Furthermore, the age-related cognitive decline was faster among older adults whose parents had no schooling, particularly the association between mother’s education and cognitive functioning is stronger in China. The cognitive decline is much faster among less-educated older adults than those with 10+ years of schooling in China. Wealthier older adults in India had higher cognitive functioning in middle age, however, wealth differences narrowed in older ages, suggesting the convergence of cognitive functioning by economic status at older ages. ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest a significant long-term impact of childhood conditions on later-life cognitive functioning in middle-income settings.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Selvamani ◽  
P. Arokiasamy

Abstract Background Cognitive functioning is an important measure of intrinsic capacity. In this study, we examine the association of life course socioeconomic status (SES) and height with cognitive functioning among older adults (50+) in India and China. The age pattern of cognitive functioning with measures of life course socioeconomic status has also been examined. Methods Cross-sectional comparative analysis was conducted using the WHO’s Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) data for India and China. Multilevel mixed-effect linear regression analysis was used to examine the association of life course socioeconomic status and adult height with cognitive functioning. Results In both India and China, parental education as a measure of childhood socioeconomic status was positively associated with cognitive functioning. The association between adult socioeconomic status and cognitive functioning was positive and significant. Height was significantly and positively associated with improved cognitive functioning of older adults in India and China. Furthermore, the age-related decline in cognitive functioning score was higher among older adults whose parents had no schooling, particularly in China. The cognitive functioning score with age was much lower among less-educated older adults than those with higher levels of education in China. Wealthier older adults in India had higher cognitive functioning in middle ages, however, wealth differences narrowed with age. Conclusions The results of this study suggest a significant association of lifetime socioeconomic status and cumulative net nutrition on later-life cognitive functioning in middle-income settings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 259-259
Author(s):  
Anna Krasnova ◽  
Sarah Tom ◽  
Linda Valeri ◽  
Maria Glymour ◽  
Paul Crane ◽  
...  

Abstract The relationships among life course socioeconomic status (SES) measures with later life cognition and cognitive decline are unclear. We test the hypothesis that life-course SES is associated with late life level of cognition and rate of cognitive decline. The Rush Memory and Aging Project enrolled 1,864 dementia-free people aged ≥65 years between 1994 – 2018. Participants reported early life (parental education, number of siblings, and childhood financial need), mid-life (income at 40 years), and late life (baseline income) SES. Global cognitive function is a composite of 19 neuropsychological tests, administered annually. We utilized marginal structural models to assess the effect of SES (dichotomized at the median) at three life-course stages on late life global cognitive function and decline. We calculated inverse probability weights to adjust for socio-demographic confounders at each life-course stage. A total 1,063 participants had all relevant variables. Average follow-up was 4.4 years, and mean baseline age was 80.4 years. Most respondents were non-Hispanic white (89.7%) and female (74.1%). In the fully adjusted model, high childhood SES (coefficient 0.10; 95% CI 0.01, 0.20) and high late-life SES were associated with higher cognition intercept (coefficient 0.21; 95% CI 0.09, 0.32). High mid-life SES was associated with slower rate of cognitive decline (coefficient 0.02; 95% CI 0.001, 0.05). Childhood and late-life SES measures were not related to cognitive decline. Childhood and adult SES may reflect processes in building cognitive capacity, while midlife SES may reflect cognition maintenance. Interventions relating to SES across the life-course may benefit later life cognition.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Letícia Sanguinetti Czepielewski ◽  
Luz Maria Alliende ◽  
Carmen Paz Castañeda ◽  
Mariana Castro ◽  
Salvador M. Guinjoan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cognition heavily relies on social determinants and genetic background. Latin America comprises approximately 8% of the global population and faces unique challenges, many derived from specific demographic and socioeconomic variables, such as violence and inequality. While such factors have been described to influence mental health outcomes, no large-scale studies with Latin American population have been carried out. Therefore, we aim to describe the cognitive performance of a representative sample of Latin American individuals with schizophrenia and its relationship to clinical factors. Additionally, we aim to investigate how socioeconomic status (SES) relates to cognitive performance in patients and controls. Methods We included 1175 participants from five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico): 864 individuals with schizophrenia and 311 unaffected subjects. All participants were part of projects that included cognitive evaluation with MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and clinical assessments. Results Patients showed worse cognitive performance than controls across all domains. Age and diagnosis were independent predictors, indicating similar trajectories of cognitive aging for both patients and controls. The SES factors of education, parental education, and income were more related to cognition in patients than in controls. Cognition was also influenced by symptomatology. Conclusions Patients did not show evidence of accelerated cognitive aging; however, they were most impacted by a lower SES suggestive of deprived environment than controls. These findings highlight the vulnerability of cognitive capacity in individuals with psychosis in face of demographic and socioeconomic factors in low- and middle-income countries.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 744-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sae Hwang Han ◽  
Bei Wu ◽  
Jeffrey A. Burr

Objective: This study examined the associations between edentulism, dental care service utilization, and cognitive functioning trajectories among older adults. Method: Longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2014) were employed to examine individuals aged 51 and older who were identified as having normal cognition at baseline ( N = 12,405). Cognitive functioning was measured with a modified version of the Telephone Interview for Cognition Status. Edentulism was self-reported as total tooth loss at baseline. Dental care service utilization was measured by self-report of having visited a dentist at least once during the previous 2 years. Results: The results indicated that edentulism and dental care service utilization were independently associated with cognitive decline during the observation period. Findings also showed that dental care service utilization moderated the association between edentulism and cognitive decline. Discussion: The findings suggested that providing access to dental services may promote cognitive health and potentially reduce health care expenditures.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Aseye Nutakor ◽  
Baozhen Dai ◽  
Jianzai Zhou ◽  
Ebenezer Larnyo ◽  
Alexander Kwame Gavu ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S205-S206
Author(s):  
Yaolin Pei ◽  
Bei Wu ◽  
Zhen Cong ◽  
Mengyao Hu

Abstract Evidence shows that education is strongly associated with cognitive functioning; however, few studies have examined the effect of education on cognitive decline among older adults with very limited education. Our study analyzed six waves of panel data (2001, 2003 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015) from the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China. We estimated two-level multilevel models of cognitive functioning for older adults age 60+, sampled using probability sampling strategy. We found that having formal schooling was positively associated with better cognitive functioning. Older adults with formal schooling had slower decline in cognition and the gap in cognition between the literate and illiterate widened with age. These findings highlight the role of early life experience in affecting cognitive function in later life and suggest that disadvantages in cognitive functioning accumulate throughout the life course for persons with no formal education.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariagrazia Capizzi ◽  
Antonino Visalli ◽  
Alessio Faralli ◽  
Giovanna Mioni

This study aimed to test two common explanations for the general finding of age-related changes in temporal processing. The first one is that older adults have a real difficulty in processing temporal information as compared to younger adults. The second one is that older adults perform poorly on timing tasks because of their reduced cognitive functioning. These explanations have been mostly contrasted in explicit timing tasks, where participants are overtly informed about the temporal nature of the task. Fewer studies have instead focused on age-related differences in implicit timing tasks, where no explicit instructions to process time are provided. Moreover, the comparison of both explicit and implicit timing in older adults has been restricted to healthy aging only. Here, a large sample (N= 85) of healthy and pathological older participants completed explicit (time bisection) and implicit (foreperiod) timing tasks. Participants’ age and general cognitive functioning, measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), were used as continuous variables to explain performance on explicit and implicit timing tasks. Results showed a clear dissociation between the effects of healthy cognitive aging and pathological cognitive decline on processing of explicit and implicit timing. Whereas age and cognitive decline similarly impaired the non-temporal cognitive processes (e.g., memory for and/or attention to durations) involved in explicit temporal judgements, processing of implicit timing survived normal age-related changes. These findings carry important theoretical and practical implications by providing the first experimental evidence that processing of implicit, but not explicit, timing is differentially affected in healthy and pathological aging.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 588-589
Author(s):  
Kelly Pacheco ◽  
Charles Henderson ◽  
M Cary Reid ◽  
Elaine Wethington ◽  
David Camacho

Abstract Longitudinal studies examining the association of loneliness with cognitive decline rarely include older members of racial minorities. Guided by a Minority Stress Framework, we used Waves 2 and 3 from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to assess whether loneliness (UCLA-3-items) at W2 predicts cognitive decline (Chicago Cognitive Functioning Measure) among US African-American, Latino, and white older adults (ages≥60). We included interactions of W2 loneliness with race in examining changes in cognitive functioning. Estimates were (N=1,950) adjusted for demographics, chronic disease, depression, and social connectedness. In all groups, loneliness was positively associated with greater global cognitive decline over the 5-year interval. However, analyses of different domains of cognitive functioning (e.g., executive functioning, memory) suggested that this association differs by cognitive domain and race. Future research on interventions to prevent cognitive decline should consider targeting loneliness, include diverse older adults, and examine global and specific domains of cognitive functioning.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Reason ◽  
Yang Claire Yang ◽  
Allison Aiello ◽  
Daniel Belsky ◽  
Kathleen M. Harris ◽  
...  

To date, analysis of the social determinants of cognitive health among younger adults is scant, especially in the US context. This study set out to test the extent to which established models of life-course health development are able to explain the reciprocal relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and cognitive functioning from childhood through young adulthood. To do this, we used data from a nationally representative sample followed prospectively from adolescence through young adulthood that included information on SES and cognitive functioning at multiple points across the early life course. Additionally, this study aimed to expand these models by directly testing the role of occupational mental and social stimulation in influencing young-adulthood cognitive functioning. We did this by using linked occupational data that specifically measured job-task mental and social stimulation. Ultimately, our findings indicate an interwoven relationship between life-course SES, occupational characteristics, and cognition functioning across adolescence and young adulthood.


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