Predictors of ageing-related decline across multiple cognitive functions

Ritchie, Stuart J.; Tucker‐Drob, Elliot M.; Cox, Simon R.; Corley, Janie; Dykiert, Dominika; Redmond, Paul; Pattie, Alison; Taylor, Adele M.; Sibbett, Ruth; Starr, John M.; Deary, Ian J.

doi:10.1016/j.intell.2016.08.007

Cited by 126 publications

(206 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(62 reference statements)

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“…This extends our previous work on the general factor of cognitive change (Ritchie et al, 2016). If there is a 'common cause' at work in physical functions, we should expect to see correlated within-individual decline in the three measures.…”

Section: Ageing Of Cognitive and Physical Functionssupporting

confidence: 83%

“…A further 26% of variance was explained at the domain level, 2 S. J. Ritchie et al and 26% was explained at the level of the individual tests (Ritchie et al, 2016). These proportions correspond closely to those from an analysis of changes in abstract reasoning, spatial visualization, episodic memory, and processing speed, in an independent longitudinal study of an age-heterogenous sample of adults by Tucker-Drob (2011a): 39% of the variance in change was domaingeneral, 33% was domain-specific, and 28% was testspecific.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

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Do Cognitive and Physical Functions Age in Concert from Age 70 to 76? Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Ritchie

Tucker‐Drob²,

Starr

et al. 2016

Span. J. Psychol.

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Abstract. The present study concerns the relation of mental and bodily characteristics to one another during ageing. The 'common cause' theory of ageing proposes that declines are shared across multiple, seemingly-disparate functions, including both physical and intellectual abilities. The concept of 'reserve' suggests that healthier cognitive (and perhaps bodily) functions from early in life are protective against the effects of senescence across multiple domains. In three waves of physical and cognitive testing data from the longitudinal Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n = 1,091 at age 70 years; n = 866 at 73; n = 697 at 76), we used multivariate growth curve modeling to test the 'common cause' and 'reserve' hypotheses. Support for both concepts was mixed: although levels of physical functions and cognitive functions were correlated with one another, physical functions did not decline together, and there was little evidence for shared declines in physical and mental functions. Early-life intelligence, a potential marker of system integrity, made a significant prediction of the levels, but not the slopes, of later life physical functions. These data suggest that common causes, which are likely present within cognitive functions, are not as far-reaching beyond the cognitive arena as has previously been suggested. They also imply that bodily reserve may be similar to cognitive reserve in that it affects the level, but not the slope, of ageing-related declines.

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Section: Ageing Of Cognitive and Physical Functionssupporting

confidence: 83%

mentioning

confidence: 97%

Do Cognitive and Physical Functions Age in Concert from Age 70 to 76? Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Ritchie

Tucker‐Drob²,

Starr

et al. 2016

Span. J. Psychol.

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“…We also tested crystallised ability, which remains relatively stable in later life [25]. All four domains also contribute to overall cognitive ability [26]. These relationships among cognitive tests and domains are described in the Statistical Analyses section below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…a trajectory of change) variables. We modelled cognitive function using a hierarchical ‘factor of curves’ model, previously established with these data [26]. For each cognitive test we modelled a level (essentially the age 70 baseline) and a linear slope (the change between age 70 and 79, taking all four measurement occasions into account); for each cognitive domain (see Cognitive function, above) a latent level and linear slope variable were correspondingly composed of the individual tests’ latent level and latent slope variables.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive function in early and later life is associated with blood glucose in older individuals: analysis of the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936

Starr

Deary

2018

Diabetologia

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Aims/hypothesisThe aim of this study was to examine whether cognitive function in early and later life, and decline in cognitive function from age 70 to 79 years, are associated with high blood glucose, as measured by HbA1c, at baseline (age 70), and changes in blood glucose from age 70 to 79.MethodsParticipants (n = 1091) in the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936 were examined. Fourteen tests were used to assess cognitive functions, grouped into four domains: visuospatial ability, processing speed, memory and crystallised ability. Test results, and measurements of HbA1c and other health variables, were collected at each of four waves of assessment: at the mean age of 70, 73, 76 and 79 years. Data on cognitive function at age 11 was also available for this cohort. Latent growth curve modelling was performed and statistical controls for known risk factors were introduced.ResultsHigher age 11 cognitive function predicted lower HbA1c level at age 70 (p < 0.001). Higher cognitive function at age 70 was related to a comparatively smaller increase in HbA1c levels from age 70 to 79 (p < 0.001). HbA1c from age 70 to 79 did not have any consistent association with change in cognitive function from age 70 to 79. These associations survived adjustments for age, sex, education, APOE*ε4, smoking history, cardiovascular disease history, hypertension history, BMI and corrections for multiple testing.Conclusions/interpretationOur results show that, among older individuals, high blood glucose is consistently predicted by lower cognitive function. Clinical care that examines and tracks cognitive function, while also taking the positive effects of maintaining cognitive function and emulating healthy behaviours associated with higher cognitive function into account, may be one approach for protecting at-risk individuals from elevated blood glucose and subsequent type 2 diabetes mellitus.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00125-018-4645-8) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.

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“…This may partly explain the relatively modest correlation of VNR with TMT performance, when compared to those previously reported 9 and may have also had a bearing on our analyses of genetic overlap within UK Biobank. In addition, the UK Biobank sample did not have sufficient breadth of contemporaneously-administered standardized/validated cognitive tests to be able to construct a robust measure of general cognitive function (such as in other large samples 9,20,68 ). This limited our ability to perform a more detailed analysis of the phenotypic or genetic overlap between trail making and general cognitive function in UK Biobank itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic contributions to Trail Making Test performance in UK Biobank

et al. 2017

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The Trail Making Test (TMT) is a widely used test of executive function and has been thought to be strongly associated with general cognitive function. We examined the genetic architecture of the TMT and its shared genetic aetiology with other tests of cognitive function in 23 821 participants from UK Biobank. The single-nucleotide polymorphism-based heritability estimates for trail-making measures were 7.9% (part A), 22.4% (part B) and 17.6% (part B − part A). Significant genetic correlations were identified between trail-making measures and verbal-numerical reasoning (r g 40.6), general cognitive function (r g 40.6), processing speed (r g 40.7) and memory (r g 40.3). Polygenic profile analysis indicated considerable shared genetic aetiology between trail making, general cognitive function, processing speed and memory (standardized β between 0.03 and 0.08). These results suggest that trail making is both phenotypically and genetically strongly associated with general cognitive function and processing speed.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 19 September 2017; doi:10.1038/mp.2017.189 INTRODUCTIONThe Trail Making Test (TMT) is widely used in both research and clinical settings as a test of some aspects of executive function. [1][2][3] The TMT is usually given as two parts, from which three measures are derived. In TMT Part A (TMT A), participants are required to connect an array of numbers in ascending order, by drawing a continuous line (trail) between them as quickly and accurately as possible. TMT Part B (TMT B) requires participants to connect an array of both numbers and letters in alternating ascending order (1, A, 2, B, 3, C and so on) with the same emphasis on speed and accuracy (Supplementary Figure 1). Subtracting TMT A completion time from that of TMT B (TMT B − A) is thought to allow the relative contributions of visual search and psychomotor speed to be parsed from the more complex executive functions (such as cognitive flexibility) required to alternate between numbers and letters. [4][5][6][7][8] TMT performance has been ascribed to a number of cognitive processes, 'including attention, visual search and scanning, sequencing and shifting, psychomotor speed, abstraction, flexibility, ability to execute and modify a plan of action, and ability to maintain two trains of thought simultaneously '. 9 It is considered a useful tool in research and clinical practice due to the sensitivity of the task (particularly TMT B and B − A) to frontal lobe damage (in some, but not other studies 10 ) and dementia. [11][12][13] There are declines in both TMT A and B performance in ageing. 10,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] There is also evidence for performance deficits on TMT B in mood disorders 21 and in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives 18,[22][23][24][25][26][27] Family-based and twin-based studies have provided evidence for a genetic contribution to individual differences in trail making, estimating the heritability for trail making part A between 0.23 and 0.38, and between 0.39 and 0.65...

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Predictors of ageing-related decline across multiple cognitive functions

Cited by 126 publications

References 54 publications

Do Cognitive and Physical Functions Age in Concert from Age 70 to 76? Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Do Cognitive and Physical Functions Age in Concert from Age 70 to 76? Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Cognitive function in early and later life is associated with blood glucose in older individuals: analysis of the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936

Genetic contributions to Trail Making Test performance in UK Biobank

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