| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Cognitive decline in the elderly
— an analysis of population heterogeneity | | Author(s) | Kathleen M Hayden, Bruce R Reed, Jennifer J Manly |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 40, no 6, November 2011 |
| Pages | pp 684-689 |
| Source | http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/ http://www.bgs.org.uk/ |
| Keywords | Cognitive impairment ; Ageing process ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | The study aimed to evaluate patterns of cognitive decline in a cohort of older adults initially free of dementia. From a sample of 1,049 participants (mean age 75 years), three subgroups were identified based on the distribution of baseline performance and change over time. The majority (65%) of participants belonged to a slow decline class that did not experience substantial cognitive decline over the observation period. About 27% experienced moderate decline, and 8% belonged to a class experiencing rapid decline. A subsample analysis revealed that when substantial cognitive decline does occur, the magnitude and rate of decline is correlated with neuropathological processes. In this sample, the most common pattern of cognitive decline was extremely slow, perceptible on a time scale measured by decades, not years. While in need of cross validation, these findings suggest that cognitive changes associated with ageing may be minimal and emphasise the importance of understanding the full range of age-related pathologies that may diminish brain function. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-120427003 A |
| Classmark | E4: BG: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|