Dataset Information

Midlife Vision Impairment and Cognitive Function in Later Life: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan Cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In older adults, vision impairment (VI) is associated with worse cognitive function. However, the relationship between midlife vision and future cognitive function remains unknown.

Methods

The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan site, is a longitudinal cohort of midlife women aged 42-52 years at baseline. Presenting Titmus visual acuity (VA) in the better-seeing eye was assessed at baseline and categorized as no or mild VI (VA ≥20/60), or moderate or worse VI (VA <20/60). Cognitive function was measured 8 times over 15 years using the East Boston Memory Test immediate (EBMTi) and delayed (EBMTd) recall and the Digit Span Backwards (DSB) test. Linear mixed models with a random intercept and slope for age were constructed to detect associations between VI at baseline and future repeated measures of cognitive function, adjusting for age, race, education, financial strain, alcohol use, and tobacco use.

Results

About 394 women aged 42-52 at baseline with a maximum follow-up of 20 years were included in this analysis. After covariate adjustment, moderate or worse VI was associated with lower EMBTi (β = -0.56, p = .012), EBMTd (β = -0.60, p = .009), and DSB (β = -0.84, p = .04). While we detected significant associations between VI and levels of cognitive function scores, rates of cognitive decline as individuals aged did not vary by VI status.

Conclusion

Moderate or worse VI, assessed during midlife, was associated with lower scores on measures of cognitive function over a 15-year period during which women transitioned from midlife to older adulthood.

SUBMITTER: Kolli A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8598988 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Midlife Vision Impairment and Cognitive Function in Later Life: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan Cohort.

Kolli Ajay A Hood Michelle M MM Karvonen-Gutierrez Carrie C Moroi Sayoko E SE Ehrlich Joshua R JR Gillespie Brenda W BW Dougherty Wood Sarah S Musch David C DC

The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 20211101 12

<h4>Background</h4>In older adults, vision impairment (VI) is associated with worse cognitive function. However, the relationship between midlife vision and future cognitive function remains unknown.<h4>Methods</h4>The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan site, is a longitudinal cohort of midlife women aged 42-52 years at baseline. Presenting Titmus visual acuity (VA) in the better-seeing eye was assessed at baseline and categorized as no or mild VI (VA ≥20/60), or moderate or wor ...[more]

PMID: 34153092

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundHealth inequalities persist into old age. We aimed to investigate risk factors for socioeconomic differences in frailty that could potentially be modified through policy measures.MethodsIn this multi-wave longitudinal cohort study (Whitehall II study), we assessed participants' socioeconomic status, behavioural and biomedical risk factors, and disease status at age 45-55 years, and frailty (defined according to the Fried phenotype) at baseline and at one or more of three clinic visits about 18 years later (mean age 69 years [SD 5·9]). We used logistic mixed models to examine the associations between socioeconomic status and risk factors at age 50 years and subsequent prevalence of frailty (adjusted for sex, ethnic origin, and age), with sensitivity analyses and multiple imputation for missing data.FindingsBetween Sept 9, 2007, and Dec 8, 2016, 6233 middle-aged adults were measured for frailty. Frailty was present in 562 (3%) of 16 164 person-observations, and varied by socioeconomic status: 145 (2%) person-observations had high socioeconomic status, 241 (4%) had intermediate status, and 176 (7%) had low socioeconomic status, adjusting for sex and age. Risk factors for frailty included cardiovascular disease, depression, smoking, high or abstinent alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable consumption, physical inactivity, poor lung function, hypertension, and overweight or obesity. Cardiometabolic markers for future frailty were high ratio of total to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and raised interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein concentrations. The five most important factors contributing to the frailty gradient, assessed by percent attenuation of the association between socioeconomic status and frailty, were physical activity (13%), interleukin-6 (13%), body-mass index category (11%), C-reactive protein (11%), and poor lung function (10%). Overall, socioeconomic differences in frailty were reduced by 40% in the maximally-adjusted model compared with the minimally-adjusted model.InterpretationBehavioural and cardiometabolic risk factors in midlife account for more than a third of socioeconomic differences in frailty. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting physical activity, obesity, smoking, and low-grade inflammation in middle age might reduce socioeconomic differences in later-life frailty.FundingBritish Heart Foundation and British Medical Research Council.

Dataset Information

Midlife Vision Impairment and Cognitive Function in Later Life: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan Cohort.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Midlife Vision Impairment and Cognitive Function in Later Life: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, Michigan Cohort.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets