Decline in Literacy and Incident AD Dementia Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To quantify longitudinal change in financial and health literacy and examine the associations of declining literacy with incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Method

Data came from 799 participants of an ongoing cohort study. Literacy was measured using a battery of 32 questions. Clinical diagnoses were made annually following uniform structured procedures. The associations of declining literacy with incident AD dementia and MCI were tested using a joint model for longitudinal and time-to-event data.

Results

We observed an overall decline in total literacy score over up to 6 years of follow-up ( p < .001). Faster decline in literacy was associated with higher risks for incident AD dementia (hazard ratio = 4.526, 95%

SUBMITTER: Yu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5869171 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature