Impact of Childhood Adversity on Late-Life Cognition in Older Puerto Rican Adults
Language English Country United States Media print
Document type Journal Article
Grant support
R01 AG064769
NIA NIH HHS - United States
FL190100011
ARC Laureate Fellowship
CE170100005
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research
PubMed
39673803
PubMed Central
PMC11949379
DOI
10.1093/geronb/gbae199
PII: 7924186
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- Adverse childhood experiences, Cognitive decline, Early adversity and aging, Mental health in later life, Older Hispanic adults,
- MeSH
- Neighborhood Characteristics statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Poverty psychology MeSH
- Hispanic or Latino * psychology statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Cognition MeSH
- Cognitive Dysfunction * epidemiology psychology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adverse Childhood Experiences * statistics & numerical data psychology MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Aged, 80 and over MeSH
- Aged MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Puerto Rico epidemiology MeSH
OBJECTIVES: This study examined the association between childhood adversity and late-life cognitive outcomes among older Puerto Rican adults. METHODS: Data were from the Puerto Rican Elder: Health Conditions study, a population-based cohort of 3,713 older Puerto Rican adults (mean age 72.5 years; 60% female). Adverse childhood experiences were categorized into four factors: economic hardship, parental illiteracy, childhood illness, and neighborhood disadvantage. Cognition was assessed with the Mini-Mental Cabán (MMC). For our analyses, cognitive impairment was defined as scoring 1.5 standard deviations below the expected score, adjusted for age, sex, education, and reading ability. Ordinal logistic regression (baseline) and generalized linear mixed models (all 3 waves) analyzed MMC scores; generalized estimating equations assessed incident cognitive impairment (Waves 2 and 3). RESULTS: All four adversity factors were associated with poorer MMC scores at baseline. Parental illiteracy (β = -0.35, p < .001) and neighborhood disadvantage (β = -0.27, p < .001) showed stronger associations than economic hardship (β = -0.10, p = .003) and childhood illness (β = -0.21, p < .001). No factors were significantly related to changes in cognitive scores over time. Depressive symptoms and self-rated health partially mediated cross-sectional relationships, with depressive symptoms showing a stronger effect. All adversity factors except economic hardship were linked to baseline cognitive impairment (OR = 1.42 parent illiteracy, OR = 1.24 childhood illness, OR = 1.82 neighborhood disadvantage, p < .05). Only neighborhood disadvantage was associated with incident cognitive impairment (OR = 1.19, p = .003). DISCUSSION: This study highlights the lasting effect of childhood adversity on late-life cognitive health among older Puerto Ricans, suggesting that addressing early adversity may promote cognitive health later in life.
Department of Psychology University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham Alabama USA
Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation Arizona State University Phoenix Arizona USA
School of Psychology University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
School of Public Health University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Puerto Rico
UNSW Ageing Futures Institute University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
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