Leisure activity engagement across adulthood predicts cognitive change after five years: Do gender and age matter?

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between leisure activity (LA) frequency and cognitive trajectories over 5 years across adulthood, and whether gender and age moderate these associations.

METHOD

A total of 234 cognitively healthy adults (21-80 years) completed a LA questionnaire at baseline and neuropsychological measures at baseline and after 5 years. Latent change score analysis was applied to generate latent variables estimating changes in different cognitive domains. For a secondary analysis, LA components' scores were calculated, reflecting cognitive-intellectual, social, and physical activities. Regression analysis examined the association between baseline LA and cognitive change, and potential moderation of gender and age. In addition, we tested the influence of cortical gray matter thickness on the results.

RESULTS

We found that higher LA engagement was associated with slower cognitive decline for reasoning, speed, and memory, as well as better vocabulary across two time points. Regarding LA components, higher Social-LA and Intellectual-LA predicted slower rates of cognitive decline across different domains, while Physical-LA was not associated with cognitive change. Gender, but not age, moderated some of the associations observed. Our results remained the same after controlling for cortical gray matter thickness.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated a protective effect of LA engagement on cognitive trajectories over 5 years, independent from demographics and a measure of brain health. The effects were in part moderated by gender, but not age. Results should be replicated in larger and more diverse samples. Our findings support cognitive reserve hypothesis and have implications for future reserve-enhancing interventions.

Association of leisure activity changes and reversion from mild cognitive impairment to normal cognitive function among older adults: A prospective cohort study

Background

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have the possibility of reverting to normal cognitive function. Leisure activity engagement (LAE) plays a critical role in the progress of the cognitive function. A better understanding of the dynamic relationship between LAE and MCI reversion would inform the implementation of preclinical dementia interventions. This study aimed to investigate the association between change patterns of LAE and MCI reversion among older adults using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) database.

Study design

Longitudinal population-based study.

Methods

Older adults with MCI at the baseline were enrolled in this study. Information about cognitive function, overall, cognitively stimulating, physically active/demanding, and socially engaged LAE was collected at baseline and follow-up. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for reversion and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by Cox hazard models with time as the underlying time metric. We also assessed potential effect modifications by creating a cross-product of the stratifying variable with LAE change patterns in the fully adjusted model.

Results

The restricted cubic spline showed that the association between LAE change scores and MCI reversion rate was statistically significant and nonlinear (p<0.01). Taking participants in the low-low group as a reference, participants in the low-medium, low-high, medium-medium, medium-high, high-medium, and high-high groups had increased possibilities of MCI reversion with HRs (95% CI) of 2.19 (1.57-3.06), 2.97 (2.13-4.13), 0.87 (0.64-1.19), 2.28 (1.71-3.03), 2.78 (2.10-3.69), 1.93 (1.43-2.59), and 2.74 (2.09-3.60), respectively. Further stratified models showed that the impact of LAE change patterns on MCI reversion varied in different ages (nonagenarian, octogenarian, and younger elderly) and gender.

Conclusions

Participants who maintained the highest LAE had the greatest possibility of MCI reversion. Meanwhile, a higher level of LAE maintenance was associated with the increased possibility of MCI reversion. These results provide a practical message to older adults about how dynamic changes in LAE are associated with improved cognitive function.

Higher levels of neuroticism in older adults predict lower executive functioning across time: the mediating role of perceived stress

Neuroticism has been associated with individual differences across multiple cognitive functions. Yet, the literature on its specific association with executive functions (EF) in older adults is scarce, especially using longitudinal designs. To disentangle the specific influence of neuroticism on EF and on coarse cognitive functioning in old adulthood, respectively, we examined the relationship between neuroticism, the Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in a 6-year longitudinal study using Bayesian analyses. Data of 768 older adults (M age = 73.51 years at Wave 1) were included in a cross-lagged analysis. Results showed no cross-sectional link between neuroticism and TMT performance at Wave 1 and no longitudinal link between neuroticism at Wave 1 and MMSE at Wave 2. However, neuroticism at Wave 1 predicted TMT performance at Wave 2, indicating that the more neurotic participants were, the lower they performed on the TMT six years later. Additional analyses showed that this relation was fully mediated by participants' perceived stress. Our results suggest that the more neurotic older adults are the more stress they may perceive six years later, which in turn negatively relates to their EF. In sum, this study demonstrates that neuroticism may lead to lower EF in older age across six years. It further suggests older adults' perceived stress as mediator, thereby providing novel insights into the mechanisms underlying this relation. Possible intervention approaches to counter these effects are discussed.

The Effects of Sustained Literacy Engagement on Cognition and Sentence Processing Among Older Adults

Considerable evidence suggests that language processing depends on memory processes, which are vulnerable to declines with aging. Yet little is known about the effects of language processing in the form of sustained literacy engagement on memory and other aspects of cognition. In the current study, adults (60-79 years of age) were randomly assigned to an 8-week program of leisure reading (n = 38) or to an active puzzle control (n = 38). Relative to the control, the experimental group showed differential improvement in verbal working memory and episodic memory. The experimental group also showed evidence of enhanced conceptual integration in sentence processing. These effects did not vary as a function of personality characteristics (e.g., openness) hypothesized to be compatible with literacy engagement. These findings support the idea that the exercise of cognitive capacities in the context of everyday life may offset age-related impairment in areas of cognition engaged by the activity, regardless of dispositional fit.

Longitudinal Within-Person Associations Between Quality of Social Relations, Structure of Social Relations, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Age

OBJECTIVES

Individuals' social connections and interpersonal experiences can both shape and be shaped by cognitive functioning. This study examines longitudinal within-person associations between quality of social relations, structure of social relations, and cognitive functioning in older age.

METHODS

We examined 16-year longitudinal data (3 waves) from 497 older adults (M = 66.07 years, SD = 0.83, range = 64-68 years) from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development and Aging. Quality of social relations was measured by scales on perceived emotional support, instrumental support, and social integration. Structure of social relations was measured by self-reported number of leisure time partner types, indicating social network diversity. Cognitive functioning was assessed as a latent construct consisting of five cognitive tests (i.e., Information, Similarities, Letter Fluency, Picture Completion, Block Design). We used a random intercept cross-lagged panel model in the analysis.

RESULTS

At the within-person level, prior quality of social relations, but not structure of social relations, was positively associated with subsequent cognitive functioning. Moreover, prior cognitive functioning was positively associated with subsequent structure of social relations, but not with quality of social relations.

DISCUSSION

Quality of social relations is a protective factor of cognitive aging. Additionally, responding to prior lower cognitive functioning, social network diversity reduced, but quality of social relations did not seem to change. Overall, this study suggested that social relations and cognitive functioning mutually influence each other, but different aspects of social relations (i.e., quality, structure) might have different directional associations with cognitive functioning.

Interactional Effects Between Relational and Cognitive Reserves on Decline in Executive Functioning

OBJECTIVES

The present study set out to investigate associations of cognitive reserve (as indicated by education) and relational reserve (as indicated by the family network size and indices of emotional support) to decline in executive functioning over 6 years as measured by changes in Trail Making Test (TMT) completion time in older adults and whether education and network size interacted with age and sex as covariates with respect to this longitudinal association.

METHOD

We analyzed data from 897 participants tested on TMT parts A and B in two waves 6 years apart. The mean age in the first wave was 74.33 years. Participants reported information on their family networks and their level of education.

RESULTS

Latent change score modeling testing for moderation effects revealed a significant interaction of network size in the first wave of data assessment with education. Specifically, for lower levels of cognitive reserve (-1 SD of education), the longitudinal association between relational reserve in the first wave and subsequent changes in executive functioning was not significant. In contrast, for higher levels of cognitive reserve (+1 SD of education), a higher relational reserve in the first wave significantly predicted a smaller subsequent increase in TMT completion time from the first to the second wave (i.e., a smaller decline in executive functioning).

DISCUSSION

The present longitudinal study provides evidence for the interaction between cognitive and relational reserves. This confirms the hypothesis that reserves from different domains are intertwined and their combined effects contribute to less cognitive decline in old age.

Associations of Lifestyle Factors With Cognition in Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 50 and Older: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

In the absence of an effective treatment to alter the progressive course of cognitive decline and dementia, identification of modifiable risk factors that could promote healthy cognitive aging has become a public health research priority. This study seeks to comprehensively determine the contemporaneous associations of a broad spectrum of time-varying modifiable lifestyle factors with age-related cognitive decline in a large population-based cohort of older adults. A total of 5,711 subjects aged 50 and older from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) in Shanghai were studied. Repeated measures of lifestyle factors and cognitive performance were conducted in 2009-2010 and 2014-2015. Linear random slope models were used to evaluate the contemporaneous associations between time-varying lifestyle factors and cognitive performance. Person-mean centering method was used to disaggregate the between- and within-person effects in the time-varying lifestyle factors in the random slope models. We found that higher vegetable and fruit consumption, as well as higher level of physical activity were positively associated with all cognitive domains. Body mass index (BMI) was negatively associated with all cognitive domains, whereas waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was negatively associated with verbal fluency score only. Sedentary time was negatively associated with digit span score but positively associated with verbal fluency score. The between-person effects seem to be more dominant than within-person effects. Overall, our findings suggest better management of multiple lifestyle factors may protect against cognitive decline in later life. Higher vegetable and fruit consumption and physical activity are protective, whereas obesity is detrimental to cognitive decline in older adults. This study underpins the development of multi-domain lifestyle recommendations to promote healthy cognitive aging.

Linking depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning: The mediating role of leisure activity

OBJECTIVES

Greater depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive decline in older adulthood, but it is not clear what underlying factors drive this association. One behavioral pathway through which depressive symptoms may negatively influence cognitive functioning is through activity engagement. Prior research has independently linked greater depressive symptoms to both lower leisure and physical activity and independently linked both lower leisure and physical activity to lower cognition. Therefore, depressive symptoms may negatively influence cognition by reducing engagement in beneficial leisure and/or physical activities that help to maintain cognition.

METHODS

The current study examined associations between depressive symptoms, leisure activity, physical activity, and global cognitive functioning using longitudinal data from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (n = 5,458 older adults). A multilevel structural equation model estimated the between-person and within-person effects of depressive symptoms on global cognition through leisure and physical activity.

RESULTS

Leisure activity, but not physical activity, mediated the association between depressive symptoms and global cognition between- and within-persons. When individuals reported high depressive symptoms, they also reported fewer leisure activities, which was associated with lower global cognition.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight behavioral pathways through which depressive symptoms may negatively influence cognitive functioning. Findings support the view that perhaps depressive symptoms act as a risk factor for cognitive impairment by reducing leisure activity engagement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).