What doesn't kill you makes you "smarter": The long-term association between exposure to epidemic and cognition.

ABSTRACT: Emerging epidemics have devastating impacts on people's lives and livelihoods. However, acting as a severe health shock, exposure to an epidemic may induce positive changes in health behaviors among survivors, thereby leading to long-lasting improvement in population health. This study examined the long-term association between exposure to the 2002-2004 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and middle-aged and older Chinese adults' cognition assessed in 2011-2015. Drawing on data from the 2011-2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we found that community exposure to the outbreak was associated with significantly higher scores on episodic memory, after adjusting for demographic characteristics, adulthood socioeconomic status and health, and community socioeconomic condit

SUBMITTER: Wen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8437674 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature