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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Education and trajectories of cognitive decline over 9 years in very old people
— methods and risk analysis | | Author(s) | Graciela Muniz-Terrera, Fiona Matthews, Tom Dening |
| Corporate Author | Cambridge City over-75s Cohort Study Group - CC75C Group |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 38, no 3, May 2009 |
| Pages | pp 277-282 |
| Source | http://www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org |
| Keywords | Educational status [elderly] ; Cognitive impairment ; Evaluation ; Mental ageing ; Longitudinal surveys ; Cambridge. |
| Annotation | The investigation of cognitive decline in the older population has been hampered by analytical considerations. Most studies of older people over prolonged periods suffer from loss to follow-up, yet to date this has seldom been investigated fully. Such considerations limit our understanding of how basic variables such as education can affect cognitive trajectories. The authors examined cognitive trajectories in a population-based cohort study of people aged 75+ in Cambridge with whom multiple interviews were conducted over time. Cognitive function was measured using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE(. Socio-demographic variables were measured, including educational level and social class. An age-based quadratic latent growth model was fitted to cognitive scores. The effect of socio-demographic variables was examined on all latent variables and the probability of death and dropout. At baseline, age, education, social class and mobility were associated with cognitive performance. Education and social class were not related to decline or its rate of change. In contrast, poor mobility was associated with lower cognitive performance, increased cognitive decline and increase rate of change of cognitive decline. Gender, age, mobility and cognitive ability predicted death and dropout. Contrary to much of the current literature, education was not related to rate of cognitive decline or change in this rate as measured by MMSE. Higher levels of education do not appear to protect against cognitive decline, though if the MMSE is used in the diagnostic process, individuals with less education may be diagnosed as having dementia somewhat earlier. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090618216 A |
| Classmark | F:V: E4: 4C: D6: 3J: 8CF |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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