Shannon Sisco1, Alden L Gross2, Regina A Shih3, Bonnie C Sachs4, M Maria Glymour5, Katherine J Bangen6, Andreana Benitez7, Jeannine Skinner8, Brooke C Schneider9, Jennifer J Manly10. 1. Department of Veterans Affairs, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville. Shannon.Sisco@va.gov. 2. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. 3. RAND Corporation, Arlington, Virginia. 4. Department of Neurology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond. 5. Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts. Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco. 6. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla. 7. Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Center for Biomedical Imaging, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston. 8. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. 9. Department of Psychology, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, California. 10. Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Racial disparities in late-life cognition persist even after accounting for educational attainment. We examined whether early-life educational quality and literacy in later life help explain these disparities. METHOD: We used longitudinal data from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP). Educational quality (percent white students; urban/rural school; combined grades in classroom) was operationalized using canonical correlation analysis. Late-life literacy (reading comprehension and ability, writing) was operationalized using confirmatory factor analysis. We examined whether these factors attenuated race-related differences in late-life cognition. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 1,679 U.S.-born, non-Hispanic, community-living adults aged 65-102 (71% black, 29% white; 70% women). Accounting for educational quality and literacy reduced disparities by 29% for general cognitive functioning, 26% for memory, and 32% for executive functioning but did not predict differences in rate of cognitive change. DISCUSSION: Early-life educational quality and literacy in late life explain a substantial portion of race-related disparities in late-life cognitive function.
OBJECTIVES: Racial disparities in late-life cognition persist even after accounting for educational attainment. We examined whether early-life educational quality and literacy in later life help explain these disparities. METHOD: We used longitudinal data from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP). Educational quality (percent white students; urban/rural school; combined grades in classroom) was operationalized using canonical correlation analysis. Late-life literacy (reading comprehension and ability, writing) was operationalized using confirmatory factor analysis. We examined whether these factors attenuated race-related differences in late-life cognition. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 1,679 U.S.-born, non-Hispanic, community-living adults aged 65-102 (71% black, 29% white; 70% women). Accounting for educational quality and literacy reduced disparities by 29% for general cognitive functioning, 26% for memory, and 32% for executive functioning but did not predict differences in rate of cognitive change. DISCUSSION: Early-life educational quality and literacy in late life explain a substantial portion of race-related disparities in late-life cognitive function.
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