Cognition and Mortality Risk Among Midlife and Older Americans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cognitive impairment is associated with increased mortality rates in late life, but it is unclear whether worse cognition predicts working-age mortality.

Methods

The data come from a U.S. national survey (N = 3 973 aged 32-84 at cognitive testing in 2004-06, mean age 56.6, 56.3% female; N = 3 055 retested in 2013-18 at ages 42-94, mean age 64.6, 56.6% female; mortality follow-up through 2019). We use Cox hazard models to investigate whether cognition is associated with mortality below age 65, how the magnitude of this risk compares with the risk in later life, and whether the association persists after adjusting for potential confounders.

Results

Worse cognition is associated with mortality, but the demographic-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) diminishes with age

SUBMITTER: Glei DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10329224 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature