Initial encoding deficits with intact memory retention in older long-term breast cancer survivors

Gaynor, Alexandra M.; Ahles, Tim A.; Ryan, Elizabeth; Schofield, Elizabeth; Li, Yuelin; Patel, Sunita K.; McNeal, Katrazyna; Traina, Tiffany A.; Root, James C.

doi:10.1007/s11764-021-01086-8

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The argument could be made that any practice effects would be shared equally between groups and that in contrasts of survivors and controls these effects are subtracted away, leaving the expected effects of cancer and cancer treatment. We note that that practice effects are not equal between domains or age bands and in previous work we have found that survivors benefit more from repeated exposure both within and across assessment time-points [29]. In this analysis, for LM, a strong practice effect is notable across all age bands, in contrast to a weaker and declining practice effect for APE with increasing age.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 47%

“…Practice effects are inherent in repeated cognitive testing [26] and have a tendency to obscure age-related decline as a result of improving performance given previous experience with the measures [27,28]. The presence of practice effects may be especially problematic for the study of cognition in survivorship given our previous findings of initial learning and attention deficits in breast cancer survivors and evidence that repetition within and across testing sessions leads to steeper improvements in performance in survivors than in controls [29]. As an alternative approach, the methods and analysis presented here stem from aging researchers, whose primary focus is on normal cognitive aging across the lifespan, that harnesses cross-sectional cognitive data to capture developmental changes over longer intervals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive Aging in Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Root¹,

Li²,

Schofield³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Cancer and cancer treatments may affect aging processes, altering the trajectory of cognitive aging, but extant studies are limited in interval of assessment (2-5 years). We studied cognitive performance in a cohort of survivors and controls utilizing cross-sectional cognitive performance data from age 60 to 89 years as an indicator of potential aging trajectories and contrasted these trends with longitudinal data collected over two years. Methods: Female breast cancer survivors who had been diagnosed and treated at age 60 or older and were 5– to 15-year survivors (N=328) and non-cancer controls (N=158) were assessed at enrollment and at 8, 16 and 24 months with standard neuropsychological tests and comprehensive geriatric as-sessment. Results: Cross-sectional baseline analysis found the expected inverse association of age with cognition in both groups, with survivors performing lower than controls in learning and memory (LM) but not in attention, processing speed and executive function (APE). Younger survivors, i.e., those under 75 years of age, exhibited early decline in performance in both LM and APE compared to controls, with no differences between older survivors and controls, which tracked with deficit accumulation trends. Conclusion: Differences between survivors and controls were prominent in younger survivors, as was deficit accumulation, suggesting a mediating effect on cognition. Deficit accumulation may represent a modifiable risk factor in cancer survivorship that may be targeted for prevention and intervention.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 47%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Aging in Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Root¹,

Li²,

Schofield³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The argument could be made that any practice effects would be shared equally between groups and that, in contrasting survivors and controls, these effects are subtracted away, leaving the expected effects of cancer and cancer treatment. We note that practice effects are not equal between domains or age bands and, in previous work, we have found that survivors benefit more from repeated exposure both within and across assessment time-points [ 29 ]. In this analysis, for LM, a strong practice effect is notable across all age bands, in contrast to a weaker and declining practice effect for APE with increasing age.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Practice effects are inherent in repeated cognitive testing [ 26 ] and have a tendency to obscure age-related decline as a result of improving performance, given that the subject will have had previous experience with the measures [ 27 , 28 ]. The presence of practice effects may be especially problematic for the study of cognition in survivorship given our previous findings of initial learning and attention deficits in breast cancer survivors and evidence that repetition within and across testing sessions leads to steeper improvements in performance in survivors than in controls [ 29 ]. As an alternative approach, the methods and analysis presented herein stem from aging researchers, whose primary focus is on normal cognitive aging across the lifespan, and harness cross-sectional cognitive data to capture developmental changes over longer intervals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Aging in Older Breast Cancer Survivors

Root

Schofield

et al. 2023

Cancers

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Background: Cancer and cancer treatments may affect aging processes, altering the trajectory of cognitive aging, but the extant studies are limited in their intervals of assessment (two–five years). We studied the cognitive performance of a cohort of survivors and controls aged from 60 to 89 years utilizing cross-sectional cognitive performance data as an indicator of potential aging trajectories and contrasted these trends with longitudinal data collected over two years. Methods: Female breast cancer survivors who had been diagnosed and treated at age 60 or older and were 5- to 15-year survivors (N = 328) and non-cancer controls (N = 158) were assessed at enrollment and at 8, 16, and 24 months with standard neuropsychological tests and comprehensive geriatric assessment. Results: A cross-sectional baseline analysis found the expected inverse association of age with cognition in both groups, with survivors performing lower overall than controls in learning and memory (LM). Younger survivors, i.e., those under 75 years of age, exhibited lower performance in both LM and attention, and processing speed and executive function (APE), compared to controls, with no differences being observed between older survivors and controls, which tracked with deficit accumulation trends. Conclusion: Cognitive differences between the survivors and controls for the LM and APE domains were prominent in younger survivors, as was deficit accumulation, suggesting a mediating effect on cognition. Deficit accumulation may represent a modifiable risk factor in cancer survivorship that may be targeted for prevention and intervention.

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