The Effects of Cognitive Reserve on the Rate of Cognitive Decline in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The cognitive reserve theory posits that innate intelligence or certain aspects oflife experiences may provide a reserve against Alzheimer's disease (AD) development.The theory hypothesizes that when dementia symptoms emerge in people with high cognitive reserve, disease pathology is at its severe stages.Clinical progression will be more rapid in these individuals than those with low cognitive reserve.OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of education and occupation on the rate of cognitive decline in older adults with MCI over a two-year period.HYPOTHESIS: Older adults with MCI who have higher education and occupation levels will display a more rapid cognitive decline over a two-year span than those with lower education and occupations.PARTICIPANTS: Two-hundred and sixty-one MCI participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).METHODS: The independent variables were years of education and occupation during most of working career.Gender, age, and marital status were utilized as covariates.Scores from the screening/baseline, 6-month, and 24-month Mini-Mental Status Examinations (MMSE) and Alzhemer's Disease Assessment Scale -Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) were used to assess cognition.MAIN ANALYSIS: Orthogonal contrasts in a repeated measures (RM) multivariate ANOV A (MANOV A) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were performed to determine the extent of cognitive decline.RESULTS: Highly educated MCI participants had slower rates of cognitive decline on the MMSE than persons with medium (F(1,255) = 4.395,p = .037)and low (F(1,255) = 4.430,p = .036)education.A faster cognitive decline occurred on the MMSE in the high than the low occupation category over a two-year period (F(1 ,252) = 3.886, p = .050).Education and occupation levels had no effect on ADAS-Cog performance during the same time (p > .05).CONCLUSION: Higher education may have a protective effect against cognitive decline in MCI while high occupation may have a reverse effect.These effects are test dependent and data limitations significantly limit the generalizability of the findings.v
Author: Nicholas A. Adams
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W137936749