Are adverse childhood experiences associated with late-life cognitive performance across racial/ethnic groups: results from the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences study baseline

Abstract

ObjectivesEvidence on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and late-life cognitive outcomes is inconsistent, with little research among diverse racial/ethnic groups. We investigated whether ACE exposures were associated with worse late-life cognition for all racial/ethnic groups and at different ages of exposure.DesignCovariate-adjusted mixed-effects linear regression models estimated associations of: (1) total number of ACEs experienced, (2) earliest age when ACE occurred and (3) type of ACE with overall cognition.SettingKaiser Permanente Northern California members aged 65 years and older, living in Northern California.ParticipantsKaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences study baseline participants, aged 65 years and older (n=1661; including 403 Asian-American, 338 Latino, 427 Black and 493 white participants).ResultsMost respondents (69%) reported one or more ACE, most frequently family illness (36%), domestic violence (23%) and parental divorce (22%). ACE count was not adversely associated with cognition overall (β=0.01; 95% CI −0.01 to 0.03), in any racial/ethnic group or for any age category of exposure. Pooling across all race/ethnicities, parent’s remarriage (β=−0.11; 95% CI −0.20 to −0.03), mother’s death (β=−0.18; 95% CI −0.30 to −0.07) and father’s death (β=−0.11; 95% CI −0.20 to −0.01) were associated with worse cognition.ConclusionAdverse childhood exposures overall were not associated with worse cognition in older adults in a diverse sample, although three ACEs were associated with worse cognitive outcomes.

Association of Social Integration with Cognitive Status in a Multi-Ethnic Cohort: Results From the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences Study

“…Cross-Sectional Analysis. To simplify interpretation and increase power, we assessed whether it was appropriate to estimate a single effect of each exposure (social integration and daily interaction with a confidant) on all three cognitive domains by testing whether the race-specific association of each exposure with cognition differed depending on the cognitive domain assessed, following Gold et al 27 To do this, we fit a linear mixed-effects model predicting Y ij, where i indexes the individual and j indexes the cognitive domain. This approach treats each of the three cognitive domain assessments as repeatedly measured outcomes for each individual, adjusting for an indicator of which domain was being measured (executive function was the reference group).…”

Social threat and safety learning in individuals with adverse childhood experiences: electrocortical evidence on face processing, recognition, and working memory

“…For example, ACEs have been linked to cognitive decline and impairments during adolescence (< 18 years of age) as well as older age (> 60 years; Blakemore, 2019 ; Halpin et al, 2021 ; Korten et al, 2014 ; Murman, 2015 ; Verhaeghen & Salthouse, 1997 ). However, the association between adverse childhood experiences, increasing age, and cognitive deficits is not well-understood (Gold et al, 2021 ; Ritchie et al, 2011 ).…”

Heterogeneous adverse childhood experiences and cognitive function in an elderly Chinese population: a cohort study

“…Nevertheless, the relationship between ACEs and cognition was inconsistent between studies. For example, some studies showed that the number of ACEs was not adversely related to later-life cognitive function after adjusting for the covariates,14 15 whereas other studies reported that ACEs were related to worse cognitive function and faster cognitive decline 16 17. Other studies indicated that both child maltreatment and childhood stress increased the all-cause risk of dementia in elderly and middle-aged people 18 19.…”