Socio-demographic characteristics and cognitive performance in oldest old subjects asking for driving license renewal

The impact of sociodemographic and health aspects on cognitive performance in the older adult population in the republic of Serbia

The aim of this study was to investigate how sociodemographic and health factors contribute cognitive abilities in the older population of the Republic of Serbia, using data from the 2019 national health survey. The study included 3,743 participants, of whom 2,061 (55.1%) were women and 1,682 (44.9%) were men. The median age of all participants was 72 (10) years. Study used logistic regression on cross-sectional data to analyze how education, social support, and healthcare access affect cognitive abilities, while adjusting for demographic variables. The results revealed negative associations between higher levels of education and lower odds of experiencing memory and concentration problems, while recent visits to specialists were positively associated with increased risk for the same. The highest percentage of participants (22.6%) reporting major difficulties in memory and concentration were in the age group of 85-89 years (p < 0.001). A statistically significant relationship was found between social support and issues related to memory and concentration (p < 0.001). Social support emerged as a significant factor in preserving cognitive abilities. The discussion underscores the need for a comprehensive approach in promoting cognitive health, taking into account education, social integration, and access to healthcare as key factors. The study acknowledges its limitations, including its cross-sectional nature and potential subjective biases in self-assessment of cognitive abilities. Future research should incorporate longitudinal studies and more objective measures of cognitive abilities.

Determinants of semantic and episodic memory decline among older adults in Ghana: Evidence from the WHO study on global AGEing and adult health Ghana wave 2

Objective

Determined factors associated with semantic (SM) and episodic memory (EM) among older adults aged 50 years and older in Ghana.

Methods

Data from WHO Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) Ghana Wave 2 was used for this study. Semantic memory (SM) and Episodic memory (EM) were the main study outcomes separately. The study employed Nested Ordinary Least Square regression analysis by sequentially adding 6 blocks of variables and comparison tests between the nested models.

Results

The study involved 3575 adult Ghanaians aged 50 years and older with a mean ± standard deviation of 62.6 ± 18.4 years. The overall mean ± SD of EM and SM were 5.86 ± 2.51 and 11.69 ± 8.59 respectively. Overall, analysis from block 6 showed a significant variation in SM by approximately 16.9%(ΔR2 = 1.17%) where increasing age, never married (β = -1.55; 95% CI = -2.41-0.69), being resident in Greater Accra (regional disparity) (β = -3.45; 95% CI = -4.73-2.20), underweight (β = -0.81;95% CI = -1.34-0.27), and moderate self-rated health (SRH) (β = -0.98; 95% CI = -1.52-0.45) significantly decreased SM. Similarly, increasing age, separated/divorced (β = -0.22; 95% CI = -0.35-0.87), being resident in Greater Accra (β = -0.53; 95% CI = -0.80-0.26), and moderate SRH (β = -0.20; 95% CI = -0.36--0.04) significantly decrease EM with an overall significant variation of approximately 22.9%(ΔR2 = 2.7%).

Conclusions

Increasing age, sex, marital status, regional disparity, and poor SRH significantly decreased both Semantic memory and Episodic memory. Higher educational attainment and life satisfaction significantly influenced SM and EM. These provide pointers to important socio-demographic determinants of SM and EM with implications for the implementation of the Ghana national ageing policy 2010, 'ageing with security and dignity', and as a key consideration for healthy ageing towards 2030.

Methodological challenges and biases in the field of cognitive function among patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects approximately 850 million people globally and is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. The prevalence of cognitive impairment among CKD patients ranges from 30 to 60%, and the link between CKD and cognitive impairment is partially understood. Methodological challenges and biases in studying cognitive function in CKD patients need to be addressed to improve diagnosis, treatment, and management of cognitive impairment in this population. Here, we review the methodological challenges and study design issues, including observational studies' limitations, internal validity, and different types of bias that can impact the validity of research findings. Understanding the unique challenges and biases associated with studying cognitive function in CKD patients can help to identify potential sources of error and improve the quality of future research, leading to more accurate diagnoses and better treatment plans for CKD patients.

Validation of the test for finding word retrieval deficits (WoFi) in detecting Alzheimer's disease in a naturalistic clinical setting

BACKGROUND

Detecting impaired naming capacity contributes to the detection of mild (MildND) and major (MajorND) neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Test for Finding Word retrieval deficits (WoFi) is a new, 50-item, auditory stimuli-based instrument.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to adapt WoFi to the Greek language, to develop a short version of WoFi (WoFi-brief), to compare the item frequency and the utility of both instruments with the naming subtest of the widely used Addenbrooke's cognitive examination III (ACEIIINaming) in detecting MildND and MajorND due to AD.

METHODS

This cross-sectional, validation study included 99 individuals without neurocognitive disorder, as well as 114 and 49 patients with MildND and MajorND due to AD, respectively. The analyses included categorical principal components analysis using Cramer's V, assessment of the frequency of test items based on corpora of television subtitles, comparison analyses, Kernel Fisher discriminant analysis models, proportional odds logistic regression (POLR) models and stratified repeated random subsampling used to recursive partitioning to training and validation set (70/30 ratio).

RESULTS

WoFi and WoFi-brief, which consists of 16 items, have comparable item frequency and utility and outperform ACEIIINaming. According to the results of the discriminant analysis, the misclassification error was 30.9%, 33.6% and 42.4% for WoFi, WoFi-brief and ACEIIINaming, respectively. In the validation regression model including WoFi the mean misclassification error was 33%, while in those including WoFi-brief and ACEIIINaming it was 31% and 34%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

WoFi and WoFi-brief are more effective in detecting MildND and MajorND due to AD than ACEIIINaming.

Validation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instruments COGTEL and COGTEL+ in Identifying Clinically Diagnosed Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Alzheimer's Disease in a Naturalistic Clinical Setting

Background:

Telephone-based neurocognitive instruments embody valuable tools in identifying cognitive impairment in research settings and lately also in clinical contexts due to the pandemic crisis. The accuracy of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL) in detecting mild- (MiND) and major (MaND) neurocognitive disorder has not been studied yet.

Objective:

Comparison of the utility of COGTEL and COGTEL+, which is enriched with orientation items, with the modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) in detecting MiND and MaND due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and assessment of the impact of COGTEL face-to-face-versus telephone administration on individual performance.

Methods:

The study included 197 cognitively intact individuals (CI), being at least 45 years old, 95 and 65 patients with MiND and MaND due to AD, respectively. In 20 individuals COGTEL was administered both in face-to-face and telephone sessions. Statistical analyses included proportional odds logistic regression models, stratified repeated random subsampling used to recursive partitioning to training and validation set (70/30 ratio), and an appropriate F-test.

Results:

All studied instruments were significant predictors of diagnostic outcome, but COGTEL+ and 3MS explained more variance relative to the original COGTEL. Except for the validation regression models including COGTEL in which the average misclassification error slightly exceeded 15%, in all other cases the average misclassification errors (%) were lower than 15%. COGTEL administration modality was not related to systematic over- or underestimation of performance on COGTEL.

Conclusion:

COGTEL+ is a valuable instrument in detecting MiND and MaND and can be administered in face-to-face or telephone sessions.