Cohort Differences in Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline Among Mexican-Americans Aged 75 Years or Older

Authors

• Brian Downer, University of Texas Medical BranchFollow
• Marc A. Garcia, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• Mukaila Raji, University of Texas Medical Branch
• Kyriakos S. Markides, University of Texas Medical Branch, GalvestonFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1-2019

Citation

Downer, Brian, Marc A. Garcia, Mukaila Raji and Kyriakos S. Markides. 2019. "Cohort Differences in Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline among Mexican-Americans Aged 75 Years or Older." American Journal of Epidemiology 188(1):119-29.

doi: 10.1093/aje/kwy196.

PMCID: PMC6321807

PMID: 30202897

Comments

American Journal of Epidemiology is published by Oxford University Press

Abstract

Research suggests that the prevalence and incidence of cognitive impairment among older adults is decreasing. This analysis used data from 9 waves (1993–2016) of the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to assess cognitive status and cognitive decline for 2 cohorts of Mexican-Americans aged ≥75 years in 1993–1994 versus 2004–2005. Logistic regression, joint longitudinal survival models, and illness-death models for interval-censored data were used to examine cohort differences in the odds of prevalent cognitive impairment, trajectories of cognitive decline, and the risk of 10-year incident cognitive impairment, respectively. Results indicated that compared with the 1993–1994 cohort, the 2004–2005 cohort had higher odds for prevalent cognitive impairment (odds ratio = 2.51, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.92, 3.29), particularly among participants with <4 years of education (odds ratio = 2.99, 95% CI: 2.14, 4.18). Conversely, the 2004–2005 cohort exhibited significantly slower rates of cognitive decline (βˆ = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.62) and had a significantly lower risk of incident cognitive impairment (hazard ratio = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.91) compared with the 1993–1994 cohort. This analysis provides mixed results for cohort trends in the cognitive health of older Mexican-Americans. Continued research is needed to identify risk factors that contribute to these population-level trends.