@article {12159, title = {Does a Cancer Diagnosis in Mid-to-Later Life Modify Racial Disparities in Memory Aging?}, journal = {Alzheimer Disease \& Associated Disorders}, volume = {36}, year = {2022}, pages = {140-147}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether an incident cancer diagnosis differentially impacts acute and long-term memory aging between older White and Black Americans.

METHODS: Incident cancer diagnoses and memory (immediate and delayed recall, combined with proxy-reported memory) were assessed at biennial study interviews in the US Health and Retirement Study (N=14,235, 1998-2016). We used multivariable segmented linear mixed-effects models to evaluate the rate of change in standardized memory score (SD/decade) in the years before, acutely at the time of, and in the years following an incident cancer diagnosis, compared to cancer-free adults, by race.

RESULTS: Black participants experienced faster memory decline than White participants (cancer-free group: -1.211 vs. -1.077; P<0.0001). An incident cancer diagnosis was associated with an acute memory drop in White, but not Black participants (-0.065 vs. 0.024; P<0.0001). However, White cancer survivors experienced slower memory decline than cancer-free White adults before and after diagnosis, but this memory advantage was not observed among Black cancer survivors.

CONCLUSIONS: Racial disparities in memory aging are not modified by an incident cancer diagnosis. The acute cancer-related memory decline and long-term memory advantage experienced by White, but not Black, cancer survivors relative to cancer-free older adults, requires further investigation.

}, keywords = {cancer diagnosis, Memory, Racial Disparities}, issn = {1546-4156}, doi = {10.1097/WAD.0000000000000493}, author = {Eastman, Marisa R and Ospina-Romero, Monica and Westrick, Ashly C and Jasdeep S Kler and M. Maria Glymour and Abdiwahab, Ekland and Lindsay C Kobayashi} }