Araujo-Menendez CE, Saelzler UG, Stickel AM, Sundermann EE, Banks SJ, Paipilla A, Barnes ML, Panizzon MS. Associations Between Parity and Cognition: Race/Ethnic Differences.
J Alzheimers Dis 2023;
94:1157-1168. [PMID:
37393496 PMCID:
PMC10473123 DOI:
10.3233/jad-221210]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Race/ethnicity is associated with differences in reproductive history and cognition individually, yet it remains an understudied factor in the relationship between parity and later-life cognition.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate if the association between parity and cognition differs between racial/ethnic groups.
METHODS
Participants included 778 older, postmenopausal women from the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Latina: n = 178, Non-Latino Black [NLB]: n = 169, Non-Latino White [NLW]: n = 431) who self-reported at least one birth. Cognitive outcomes included working memory, learning memory, and verbal fluency. Covariates included age, education, cardiovascular and other reproductive health factors, adult socioeconomic status (SES) and depressive symptoms. We fit a series of linear models to examine a) whether parity was associated with cognitive functioning, b) if this association varied by race/ethnicity through parity by race/ethnicity interactions, and c) individual parity with cognition associations stratified by race/ethnicity.
RESULTS
In the full sample, parity was significantly negatively associated with Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) performance (b = -0.70, p = 0.024) but not Animal Fluency or word-list learning and memory. Tests of race/ethnicity-by-parity interactions were not statistically significant (ps > 0.05). However, stratified analyses by race/ethnicity showed a differential effect of parity on DSST performance, such that parity was significantly negatively associated with DSST performance (b = -1.66, p = 0.007) among Latinas but not in NLWs (b = -0.16, p = 0.74) or NLBs (b = -0.81, p = 0.191).
CONCLUSION
Among Latina, but not NLB or NLW women, greater parity was associated with worse processing speed/executive functioning later in life. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms driving racial/ethnic differences.
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