The relation of education, occupation, and cognitive activity to cognitive status in old age: the role of physical frailty

Ihle, Andreas; Gouveia, Élvio R.; Gouveia, Bruna R.; Freitas, Duarte; Jurema, Jefferson; Odim, Angeany P.; Kliegel, Matthias

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/2199

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Abstract(s)

Background: It remains unclear so far whether the role of cognitive reserve may differ between physically frail compared to less frail individuals. Therefore, the present study set out to investigate the relation of key markers of cognitive reserve to cognitive status in old age and its interplay with physical frailty in a large sample of older adults. Methods: We assessed Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in 701 older adults. We measured grip strength as indicator of physical frailty and interviewed individuals on their education, past occupation, and cognitive leisure activity. Results: Greatergripstrength,longereducation,highercognitivelevelofjob,andgreaterengagingincognitive leisure activity were signiﬁcantly related to higher MMSE scores. Moderation analyses showed that the relations of education, cognitive level of job, and cognitive leisure activity to MMSE scores were signiﬁcantly larger in individuals with lower, compared to those with greater grip strength. Conclusions: Cognitive status in old age may more strongly depend on cognitive reserve accumulated during the life course in physically frail (compared to less frail) older adults. These ﬁndings may be explained by cross-domain compensation effects in vulnerable individuals.

Keywords

Aged Brazil Female Frail elderly Geriatric assessment Humans Independent living Leisure activities Male Middle aged Neuropsychological tests Cognitive reserve Educational status Hand strength Occupations . Faculdade de Ciências Sociais

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http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/2199

Citation

Ihle, A., Gouveia, É. R., Gouveia, B. R., Freitas, D. L., Jurema, J., Odim, A. P., & Kliegel, M. (2017). The relation of education, occupation, and cognitive activity to cognitive status in old age: the role of physical frailty. International psychogeriatrics, 29(9), 1469-1474.