Engaging in Cognitive Activities, Aging, and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

We investigated whether engaging in cognitive activities is associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a cross-sectional study derived from an ongoing population-based study of normal cognitive aging and MCI in Olmsted County, Minnesota. A random sample of 1321 non-demented study participants ages 70 to 89 (n = 1124 cognitively normal persons and n = 197 subjects with MCI) was interviewed about the frequency of cognitive activities carried out in late life (within one year of the date of interview). Computer activities [OR (95% CI) = 0.50 (0.36, 0.71); p < .0001)], craft activities such as knitting, quilting, etc. [0.66 (0.47, 0.93); p = 0.019)], playing games [0.65 (0.47, 0.90); p = 0.010)], and reading books [0.67 (0.49, 0.94); p = 0.019)] were associated with decreased odds of having MCI. Social activities such as traveling were marginally significant [0.71 (0.51, 1.00); p = 0.050)]. Even though the point estimates for reading magazines, playing music, artistic activities, and group activities were associated with reduced odds of having MCI, none reached statistical significance. We could not expect to observe any difference between the two groups on the variable of reading newspapers since almost identical proportions of the two groups (97.4% of normals and 97.5% of the MCI group) were engaged in reading newspapers on a regular basis.

The advanced activities of daily living: A tool allowing the evaluation of subtle functional decline in mild cognitive impairment

“…It has been reported that a diminished performance in cognitively demanding activities (e.g. reading books, playing games) is associated with increased risk for MCI [17]. Since here we explicitly asked the subjects if they had performed the activities in the years preceding their problems, our results are somehow surprising.…”

“…Presently, the commonly used instruments often fail to capture the subtle impairments encountered in MCI. Although several relevant studies were carried out the past years [4,11,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20], at this moment there are neither age-specific norms for levels of functioning, nor normal rates of functional decline available.…”

Lifetime Musical Activities and Cognitive Function of the Elderly

“…Overall, the results obtained in this study appeared to be consistent with previous researches on musical activities and cognitive function. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Despite the limitation of this study to inference the results to general population, there were several possible explanations for the mechanisms behind the associations between lifetime musical activities and cognitive function. Basically, performing music was an activity that could train complex motor and cognitive functions, which couldn't be done by other cognitive activities.…”

“…The study about daily musical activities in elder people's life and its connections to their cognitive functioning has rarely been done, whereas many musical activities such as playing musical instruments, singing in the choir, and watching the concerts had been indicated to have positive association with elder people's cognitive functioning. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Thus, the researchers are interested to evaluate the possible association between lifetime musical activities and cognitive function of the elderly.…”

Associação entre o desempenho de Atividades Avançadas de Vida Diária e a incidência de declínio cognitivo: Estudo SABE

“…(Reuben et al,1990;Nilsson, 2007) Pesquisas referem diferenças da participação de idosos saudáveis em atividades mais complexas, relacionadas à participação social, trabalho e lazer, de idosos com comprometimento cognitivo leve e demência. Farias et al, 2009;Geda et al, 2011;Mousavi-Nasab et al, 2014;Nilsson et al, 2006;Oliveira et al, 2007;Pedrosa et al, 2010;Perneczky et al, 2006;.…”