Nicole M Armstrong1,2, Sarah E Tom3, Amal Harrati4, Kaitlin Casaletto5, Judy Pa6, Miguel Arce Rentería7, Yian Gu7, Kumar B Rajan8, Nicole Schupf7, Robert Fieo6,9, Jennifer Weuve10, Eleanor M Simonsick2, Jennifer J Manly7, Yaakov Stern7, Laura B Zahodne11. 1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. 2. Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 3. Department of Neurology and Epidemiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. 4. Department of Primary Care and Population Health, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, California, USA. 5. Memory and Aging Center, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA. 6. Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 7. Cognitive Neuroscience Division and the Taub Institute, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. 8. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Davis, California, USA. 9. US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. 10. Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. 11. Department of Psychology and Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Leisure activity engagement (LAE) may reduce the risk of incident dementia. However, cognitive performance may predict LAE change. We evaluated the temporal ordering of overall and subtypes of LAE (intellectual, physical, and social) and cognitive performance (global, language, memory, and visuospatial function) among non-demented older adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project concurrently administered a survey measure of 13 leisure activities and a neuropsychological battery every 18-24 months for up to 14 years to 5,384 racially and ethnically diverse participants. We used parallel process conditional latent growth curve models to examine temporal ordering in the overall sample and within baseline diagnostic groups (mild cognitive impairment [MCI] vs. cognitively normal). RESULTS: Levels and changes of overall and subtypes of LAE were positively correlated with cognitive performance in the overall sample and within each diagnostic group. In the overall sample, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in social LAE (estimate = 0.019, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.001-0.037). Among MCI, higher initial physical LAE was associated with slower declines in memory (estimate = 0.034, 95% CI: 0.001-0.067), but higher initial intellectual LAE was related to steeper declines in visuospatial function (estimate = -0.028, 95% CI: -0.052 to -0.004). Among cognitively normal, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in intellectual LAE (estimate = 0.012, 95% CI: 0.002-0.022). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Dynamic interplay of LAE with cognitive performance was observed across diagnostic groups. Levels of LAE subtypes could be more predictive of change in certain cognitive domains within older adults with MCI. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America 2021.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Leisure activity engagement (LAE) may reduce the risk of incident dementia. However, cognitive performance may predict LAE change. We evaluated the temporal ordering of overall and subtypes of LAE (intellectual, physical, and social) and cognitive performance (global, language, memory, and visuospatial function) among non-demented older adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project concurrently administered a survey measure of 13 leisure activities and a neuropsychological battery every 18-24 months for up to 14 years to 5,384 racially and ethnically diverse participants. We used parallel process conditional latent growth curve models to examine temporal ordering in the overall sample and within baseline diagnostic groups (mild cognitive impairment [MCI] vs. cognitively normal). RESULTS: Levels and changes of overall and subtypes of LAE were positively correlated with cognitive performance in the overall sample and within each diagnostic group. In the overall sample, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in social LAE (estimate = 0.019, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.001-0.037). Among MCI, higher initial physical LAE was associated with slower declines in memory (estimate = 0.034, 95% CI: 0.001-0.067), but higher initial intellectual LAE was related to steeper declines in visuospatial function (estimate = -0.028, 95% CI: -0.052 to -0.004). Among cognitively normal, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in intellectual LAE (estimate = 0.012, 95% CI: 0.002-0.022). DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Dynamic interplay of LAE with cognitive performance was observed across diagnostic groups. Levels of LAE subtypes could be more predictive of change in certain cognitive domains within older adults with MCI. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America 2021.