TY - JOUR T1 - A Longitudinal Analysis of the Influence of Race on Cognitive Performance JF - The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Y1 - 2015 A1 - Castora-Binkley, Melissa A1 - Peronto, Carol L. A1 - Edwards, Jerri D. A1 - Brent J. Small KW - Demographics KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Methodology AB - Objectives. Whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in the rate of cognitive decline among older adults is not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in cognitive decline among racial and ethnic older adults.Method. Data were from the Health and Retirement Study, waves 1998 2010. Participants were community dwelling at baseline (n = 9,492), mostly female participants (58.8 ), ranged in age from 65 to 105 years (M = 74.41, SD = 6.97), and had education levels that averaged less than high school (M = 11.7, SD = 3.4). Cognition was examined using a combined score from word recall, Serial 7 s, backward counting, and naming tasks. To determine changes in cognition across 12 years, we utilized mixed effects models.Results. Results indicated that after adjusting for covariates, race or ethnicity was unrelated to changes in cognitive performance, but there were significant differences in baseline cognition and these differences were more pronounced after adjusting for age, gender, education, poverty, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure.Discussion. It is evident that there are significant differences in baseline cognition, although the rate of cognitive decline across 12 years did not vary significantly by race. These findings support previous assertions that the rate of cognitive decline is not associated with race and suggest that it is likely that baseline cognitive performance is a better indicator of performance over time. PB - 70 VL - 70 UR - http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/10/29/geronb.gbt112.abstract IS - 4 U4 - Cognitive Decline/Health and Retirement Study/Racial Disparities ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sources of variability in estimates of the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in the United States. JF - Alzheimers Dement Y1 - 2011 A1 - Robert S Wilson A1 - David R Weir A1 - Sue E Leurgans A1 - Denis A Evans A1 - Liesi Hebert A1 - Kenneth M. Langa A1 - Brenda L Plassman A1 - Brent J. Small A1 - David A Bennett KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Alzheimer disease KW - Community Health Planning KW - Comorbidity KW - Dementia KW - Diagnosis, Differential KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Incidence KW - Male KW - Prevalence KW - United States AB -

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the United States was estimated at 2.3 million in 2002 by the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS), which is almost 50% less than the estimate of 4.5 million in 2000 derived from the Chicago Health and Aging Project.

METHODS: We considered how differences in diagnostic criteria may have contributed to these differences in AD prevalence.

RESULTS: We identified several important differences in diagnostic criteria that may have contributed to the differing estimates of AD prevalence. Two factors were especially noteworthy. First, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III-R and IV criteria of functional limitation documented by an informant used in ADAMS effectively concentrated the diagnosis of dementia toward a relatively higher level of cognitive impairment. ADAMS separately identified a category of cognitive impairment not dementia and within that group there were a substantial number of cases with "prodromal" AD (a maximum of 1.95 million with upweighting). Second, a substantial proportion of dementia in ADAMS was attributed to either vascular disease (representing a maximum of 0.59 million with upweighting) or undetermined etiology (a maximum of 0.34 million), whereas most dementia, including mixed dementia, was attributed to AD in the Chicago Health and Aging Project.

CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of AD in population studies is a complex process. When a diagnosis of AD excludes persons meeting criteria for vascular dementia, when not all persons with dementia are assigned an etiology, and when a diagnosis of dementia requires an informant report of functional limitations, the prevalence is substantially lower and the diagnosed cases most likely have a relatively higher level of impairment.

PB - 7 VL - 7 IS - 1 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21255745?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3145367 U4 - Epidemiology/Dementia/Alzheimers disease/Vascular dementia/Mild cognitive impairment/Cognitive impairment no dementia ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Is the effect of reported physical activity on disability mediated by cognitive performance in white and african american older adults? JF - J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci Y1 - 2009 A1 - Mihaela A. Popa A1 - Sandra L Reynolds A1 - Brent J. Small KW - Activities of Daily Living KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Black or African American KW - Cognition Disorders KW - Cohort Studies KW - Disability Evaluation KW - Exercise KW - Female KW - Follow-Up Studies KW - Health Status Disparities KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Motor Activity KW - Neuropsychological tests KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - United States KW - White People AB -

This study examined if reported physical activity has beneficial outcomes on disability through cognitive performance-mediated effects and if these mediation effects are comparable for White and African American elders. Longitudinal data from the Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old study (N = 4,472) are used to test mediation in multilevel models. During the 7-year follow-up, cognitive performance mediated the effects of reported physical activity on disability in the entire sample and in Whites but not in African Americans. Our results indicate that reported physical activity may delay the disability development through improvement in cognitive performance. Unmeasured education and comorbidity influences may have obscured the mediation effects in African Americans. Reported physical activity plays a key role in the independence of older adults and should be particularly promoted in African Americans and during the entire life course.

PB - 64 VL - 64 IS - 1 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19196688?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC2654991 U4 - SELF-RATED HEALTH/DISABILITY/DISABILITY/Cognitive Functioning ER - TY - RPRT T1 - The Relationship Between Occupational Characteristics and Cognitive Performance in Adulthood Y1 - 1993 A1 - Brent J. Small A1 - Hultsch, David KW - Employment and Labor Force KW - Health Conditions and Status AB - The predictive relationships among individual in occupational characteristics and cognitive performance were examined. A sample of 4,039 men and women aged 25 to 78 years completed immediate and delayed word recall tasks and a reasoning measure. Hierarchical regression was used to predict performance on these tasks from occupational characteristic measures. Results indicated that occupational characteristics related to physical demands, cognitive demands, stressfulness, and repetitiousness predicted significant portions of variance in immediate recall, delayed recall, and reasoning, independent of the potentially confounding variables of age, education, gender, race, length of tenure, and health status. PB - University of Michigan UR - http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/series.html U4 - Cognition/Occupational Characteristics ER -