The proposed research examines the relationship of specific diseases with memory and cognition in older adults. Older adults perform more poorly than younger ones on a wide range of laboratory memory and cognitive tasks. Although studies suggest that general health status is not an important correlate of memory declines associated with aging, methodological problems in the measurement of """"""""health,"""""""" including the use of global scales, screening of participants for diseases causing cognitive declines, and samples too small to assess the effects of disease that affect subtle aspects of cognitive functioning, make this conclusion premature. The proposal is a pilot study that will combine approaches from cognitive psychology and epidemiology to test the hypothesis that certain diseases such as hypertension, are related to memory and neuropsychological test performance. It is hypothesized that other diseases, such as arthritis, will not be related to cognitive performance. This would indicate that use of global measures, which do not identify effects of specific diseases, have been inadequate in explaining memory change with age. The research will use data from large sample surveys of older adults, which have detailed measures of specific health conditions and of memory and neuropsychological status to test the hypothesis that certain diseases affect memory and cognition in older adults. Data from three surveys will be tested: Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), the 65 + Rural Health Study (one of the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly), and the MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. The advantage of the first two surveys is that both include laboratory memory measures, as well as mental status measures, and query a wide array of diseases. The latter survey includes extensive memory and neuropsychological measures, queries diseases associated with cognitive deficits, and includes an array of biological markers of system functioning. This approach will yield more comprehensive findings that have previously been reported in examining the role of disease in memory and cognition in older adults.
| Zelinski, E M; Crimmins, E; Reynolds, S et al. (1998) Do medical conditions affect cognition in older adults? Health Psychol 17:504-12 |
