Cognitive Function Changes in Older People. Results of Second Wave of Cognition of Older People, Education, Recreational Activities, NutritIon, Comorbidities, fUnctional Capacity Studies (COPERNICUS)

Abstract

BackgroundCognitive reserve explains why subjects with more years of education, professional achievement, or participation in recreational activities show less cognitive decline with aging. We hypothesize that levels of recreational travel, education, occupation, systemic health, physical performance, and current cognitive activity levels affect the trajectory of cognitive function in older, healthy people in Poland.Materials and MethodsHealthy, older people (N = 205) were examined and followed-up at 2 years. Participants completed physical and cognitive function assessments: including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and its two subtests Delayed Recall (DR) and Verbal Fluency (VF), and Trail Making Test Part B (TMT B). Factors associated with cognitive functioning were also examined.ResultsThe MMSE result significantly decreased over 2 years. No significant decrease in other cognitive tests was noted. However, the trajectory of cognitive tests results varied between individual participants. Percentage of variance of change was explained by the following predictors: 21 in MMSE, 24 in MoCA, 8 in DR, 25 in VF, and 24 in TMT B. Age and the presence of varicose veins were significantly linked to negative changes in MMSE and MoCA scores, while working in a professional occupational status associated with a higher score. The subgroup with varicose veins did worse on the Delayed Recall subtest of MoCA.ConclusionCognitive reserve could be extended by proxies of reserve that are related to systemic health and travel activity. The latter is a combination of social, physical, and cognitive activity and potentially might serve as an intervention to improve cognitive function in older people. However, due to the limitations of this study, results should be interpreted with caution and needs to be replicated in the further studies.

Exploring the Associations between Functional Capacity, Cognitive Function and Well-Being in Older Adults

“…Although the mechanisms underlying the aerobic fitness and cognitive function association have not been fully elucidated, previous observational studies have shown positive associations between levels of cardiorespiratory fitness and brain health factors related to cognition such as greater gray matter volume [ 52 ], hippocampal volume [ 53 ] and hippocampal effective connectivity [ 54 ]. Furthermore, longitudinal studies have also shown the influence of age on cognitive function and that results in functional capacity tests were significant predictors of changes in cognition [ 55 , 56 ]. Recent evidence suggests that poor performance in various functional capacity parameters can predict the incidence of dementia [ 57 , 58 ].…”

Influence of Social Adversity on Perceived Health Status and Depressive Symptoms among Portuguese Older People

“…Literature, however, suggests that this is probably a very complex relationship between several aspects that may model the impact of life course vulnerabilities on health once it could be moderated by several biopsychosocial factors [ 70 ]. Higher educational and occupational, as well as cognitive and non-cognitive physical or leisure time activities, levels and other beneficial societal changes may underlie a decrease in age-associated psychiatric problems prevalence and incidence in high-income countries [ 71 , 72 ]. However, these epidemiological reserve-related factors are interrelated: literacy may be determined either by genetics or by educational experiences, and social and environmental factors; occupational status is related to education and socioeconomic characteristics and inequalities.…”

Capacidad funcional y rendimiento cognitivo de adultos argentinos en rehabilitación cardiopulmonar

“…En esa misma dirección, algunos trabajos previos recientes reportaron que un peor rendimiento cognitivo se asoció a menor CF (ej. Kao et al, 2021;Kujawski et al, 2021). Estos resultados invitan a pensar que la CF reducida, no solo se explicaría por un déficit en la capacidad física, sino además, y al mismo tiempo, por un peor estado de las funciones cognitivas.…”