The Power of Birth Cohorts to Study Risk Factors for Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Purpose of Review Birth cohorts are studies of people the same time; some of which have continuously followed participants across the life course. These are powerful designs for studying predictors of age-related outcomes, especially when information on predictors is collected before these outcomes are known. This article reviews recent findings from these cohorts for the outcomes of cognitive function, cognitive impairment, and risk of dementia, in relation to prior cognitive function, and social and biological predictors. Recent Findings Cognitive function and impairment are predicted by a wide range of factors, including childhood cognition, education, occupational status and complexity, and biological factors, including genetic and epigenetic. The particular importance of high and rising blood pressure in midlife is highlighted, with some insight into brain mechanisms involved. Some limitations are noted, including sources of bias in the data. Summary Despite these limitations, birth cohorts have provided valuable insights into factors across the life course associated with cognitive impairment.

Association between cognitive dysfunction and diabetes in patients over 65 years old: a cross-sectional study using propensity score matching

“…According to the previous studies ( 20 , 21 ), relevant covariates were included in the analysis to account for potential biases: ( i ) Demographics, including sex, type of residence (urban and rural), age, years of education and body mass index (BMI); ( ii ) Psychological factors, represented by psychological well-being (PWB) ( 22 ), which is the total score of 7 questions ranging from 7 to 35, including being optimistic about things, keeping things neat, feeling afraid or anxious, feeling lonely, making your own decisions, feeling useless as you get older, and feeling happier when you were younger, with higher scores indicating better well-being; ( iii ) health-related behaviours, including smoking, drinking and exercising. Participants were considered “yes” if they had or were still engaged in these behaviours; ( iv ) community support ( 23 ), calculated by the total score of 9 services (personal care, home visits, psychological counselling, daily shopping services, social entertainment, legal assistance, medical education, neighbourhood relations, and other services) provided by the community, with a score of 1 for those who have this support and 0 for those who do not; ( v ) disease that may affect cognition in older adults ( 24 ), including hypertension, cardiopathy, cerebrovascular disease, pulmonary disease, dysaudia and somnipathy.…”

Effect of interaction of ATG7 and plasma heavy metal on cognitive impairment in rural China

“…As such, identifying risk and protective factors for cognitive decline is of paramount importance for addressing not only health issues but also social challenges 2 . Multiple investigations have highlighted the in uence of both genetic and environmental factors on cognitive decline, with heavy metals emerging as a signi cant contributor to this condition [3][4][5] .…”