TY - JOUR T1 - Do medical conditions affect cognition in older adults? JF - Health Psychol Y1 - 1998 A1 - Elizabeth Zelinski A1 - Eileen M. Crimmins A1 - Sandra L Reynolds A1 - Teresa Seeman KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Aging KW - Cerebrovascular Disorders KW - Cognition KW - Diabetes Complications KW - Diabetes Mellitus KW - Female KW - Health Status KW - Humans KW - Hypertension KW - Male KW - Mental Health AB -

Analyses of a nationally representative sample who completed a list recall task (weighted n = 6,446) and 2 mental status tasks (weighted n = 6,646) were conducted to determine whether specific medical conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes as well as general health ratings predict cognitive performance in adults aged 70 to 103. Presence of stroke and poorer health ratings predicted poorer performance on the 3 tasks. Presence of diabetes predicted poorer performance on recall and 1 mental status task. Age interacted with medical conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes in predicting mental status, with condition-related deficits confined to the younger end of the age continuum. Global health ratings interacted with age, with poorer ratings associated with worse mental status in the younger participants. Findings suggest that stroke and diabetes are associated with cognitive deficits. Some deficits are more pronounced in younger old adults with high blood pressure and poorer health ratings.

PB - 17 VL - 17 UR - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9848800/ IS - 6 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9848800?dopt=Abstract U4 - Aged, 80 and Over/Aging/Psychology/Cerebrovascular Disorders/Cognition/Diabetes Mellitus/Gender/Health Status/Hypertension/Support, U.S. Government--PHS ER -