We surveyed a convenience sample of 255 Asian Indian Americans (AIAs) aged 18-81 years assessing perceptions of dementia etiology, help-seeking, and treatment, and knowledge of symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In response to a vignette describing the early stages of AD, participants indicated a substantial willingness to seek help. Most participants knew that memory loss was the key symptom of dementia, yet most knowledge items were correctly answered by fewer than half of the sample. Participants who had more knowledge of AD were more likely than those with less knowledge of AD to state that they would seek help for an elderly relative showing symptoms of dementia. Relative to other psychosocial factors, loneliness was highly rated as an etiological factor and keeping mentally active was highly rated as a treatment. This study is the first to document dementia beliefs among AIAs, illustrating the need for culturally-tailored dementia education and care for the AIA population.

The current study investigated age differences and longitudinal change in mode effects, wherein individuals report less negative and more positive psychosocial functioning with data collection modes that have greater (vs. less) direct contact with interviewers (e.g., in-person interviews vs. telephone interviews). Using 2 longitudinal datasets, the Later Life Study of Social Exchanges (LLSSE) and Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA), we tested how mode effects may vary with cohort (baseline age differences) and maturational development (longitudinal change). In Study 1, LLSSE participants (65-90 years old) completed in-person and telephone interviews assessing negative and positive aspects of psychosocial functioning across 2 years. The data collection mode with greater direct contact with interviewers (in-person interviews) was associated with reporting less negative and more positive psychosocial functioning compared to the mode with less direct contact (telephone interviews). These mode effects were more pronounced with older baseline age, but only for the negative psychosocial measures. Mode effects also became stronger over time for reports of negative affect. In Study 2, SATSA participants (38-86 years old) completed mailed questionnaires and questionnaires collected in-person that assessed depressive symptoms and positive affect across 18 years. Consistent with Study 1, participants reported fewer depressive symptoms and more positive affect with greater (vs. less) direct contact with interviewers (questionnaires collected in-person vs. mailed questionnaires). For reports of depressive symptoms, but not positive affect, mode effects were more pronounced with age and time. Together, the results underscore how mode effects may contribute to inconsistent findings in the socioemotional aging literature.

Introduction

We asked whether anxiety is associated with prospective risk of dementia, and the extent to which genetic influences mediate this association.

Methods

Nondemented twins (n = 1082) from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging completed an assessment of anxiety symptoms in 1984 and were followed for 28 years.

Results

Baseline anxiety score, independent of depressive symptoms, was significantly associated with incident dementia over follow-up (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-1.06). There was 48% increased risk of becoming demented for those who had experienced high anxiety at any time compared with those who had not. In co-twin analyses, the association between anxiety symptoms and dementia was greater for dizygotic (HR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.02-1.20) compared with monozygotic twins (HR = 1.06; 95% CI = 0.95-1.20), indicating genetic mediation.

Discussion

Anxiety symptoms were associated with increased risk of dementia. Genetic factors common to dementia and anxiety partially mediated this association.

Cognitive decline and anxiety symptoms commonly co-occur in later life, but the temporal order of changes on these two attributes is unclear. Specifically, it is unknown if greater anxiety leads to subsequent declines in cognitive performance or if worse cognitive performance leads to increased anxiety. In this study, we sought to elucidate the temporal dynamics between anxiety symptoms and cognitive performance across old age-that is, the extent to which level and change in one variable influence subsequent changes in a second variable. We examined data from 721 nondemented participants from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Participants completed as many as eight assessments of cognitive performance and anxiety over a 26-year period. Bivariate dual-change score models were fit to examine the dynamic association between anxiety and cognitive performance. Bidirectional associations between anxiety and cognitive performance were found among measures of processing speed, attention, and memory but not visuospatial abilities. Higher anxiety was associated with greater declines in processing speed over the duration of 6 years and worsening attention over a span of 3 years. The reverse direction was also significant in that slower processing speed, worse attention, and poorer nonverbal and working memory performance were associated with larger increases in anxiety 3 years later. These findings highlight that in cognitively intact older adults, the association between anxiety and worse cognitive performance is bidirectional and complex. (PsycINFO Database Record

Anxiety symptoms are common in later life and are associated with diverse adverse health outcomes. Little is known about how genetic and environmental influences on anxiety symptoms might vary across older adulthood. The purpose of this study was to explore change and stability of contributions to anxiety symptoms across older adulthood. We examined data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA). Between the years 1984 and 2010, 2021 participants (including 753 complete twin pairs) completed up to seven assessments containing two measures of anxiety symptoms. Longitudinal genetic simplex models were fit to examine the stability and change in genetic and environmental influences. Amplification of genetic factors at ages 75-80 suggests tentative new genetic contributions to anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that the heritability of anxiety symptoms may increase later in life. Physiological factors associated with aging are discussed as potential factors explaining this increase.

Background

Emerging data suggests PM_2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) may be associated with both earlier declines in episodic memory (EM) and increased depressive symptoms in older adults. Although late-life depressive symptoms are associated with EM, no longitudinal studies have examined the inter-relationship among PM_2.5, depressive symptoms and EM.

Methods

Older women (n = 2,202; aged 67-83 in 1999) enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging completed up to eight annual assessments of depressive symptoms (15-item Geriatric Depression Scale) and EM (California Verbal Learning Test). A nationwide spatiotemporal model (1999-2010) was used to estimate ambient PM_2.5 exposure at residential locations. Univariate and bivariate structural equation models (SEMs) for latent-change scores were used to examine how 3-year average PM_2.5 preceding each assessment affects the temporal dynamics and bidirectional relations of annual changes in depressive symptoms and EM.

Results

In univariate SEMs, one inter-quartile (4.04 μg/m³) increment of 3-year PM_2.5 was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with accelerated declines in verbal learning (List A trials 1-3: β = -1.48) and free-recall memory (short-delay: β = -1.43; long-delay: β = -1.11), but not with change in depressive symptoms (β = 0.12; p = 0.71). In bivariate SEMs, significant associations were observed between PM_2.5 and accelerated declines in EM measures (β = -1.44 to -0.99; p < 0.05) and between EM performance and changes in depressive symptoms (β = -0.08 to -0.05; p < 0.05), with significant indirect PM_2.5 effects on changes in depressive symptoms (β = 0.08-0.10; p < 0.05). These findings were robust with adjustment for multiple demographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors, and remained after excluding subjects with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. No associations were found between PM_2.5 and change in depressive symptoms or depressive symptoms and subsequent EM decline.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that PM_2.5 neurotoxicity may damage brain areas implicated in EM, followed by manifestation of depressive symptoms. Our data did not support depressive symptoms as the neuropsychological mediator of accelerated brain aging associated with PM_2.5 exposure.

Despite the relevance of semantic fluency measures to risk for dementia and psychiatric disorders, little is known about their genetic and environmental architecture in mid-to-late life. Participants represent 21,684 middle-aged and older adult twins (M = 60.84 years, SD = 11.21; Range 40-89) from six studies from three countries participating in the Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) consortium. All completed the same measure of semantic fluency (naming animals in 60 seconds). Results revealed small-to-moderate phenotypic associations with age and education, with education more strongly and positively associated with fluency performance in females than males. Heritability and environmental influences did not vary by age. Environmental variance was smaller with higher levels of education, but this effect was observed only in males. This is the largest study to examine the genetic and environmental architecture of semantic fluency, and the first to demonstrate that environmental influences vary based on levels of education.

The National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC) Twin Registry is one of the oldest, national population-based twin registries in the USA. It comprises 15,924 White male twin pairs born in the years 1917-1927 (N = 31.848), both of whom served in the armed forces, chiefly during World War II. This article updates activities in this registry since the most recent report in Twin Research and Human Genetics (Page, 2006). Records-based data include information from enlistment charts and Veterans Administration data linkages. There have been three major epidemiologic questionnaires and an education and earnings survey. Separate data collection efforts with the NAS-NRC registry include the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) subsample, the Duke Twins Study of Memory in Aging and a clinically based study of Parkinson's disease. Progress has been made on consolidating the various data holdings of the NAS-NRC Twin Registry. Data that had been available through the National Academy of Sciences are now freely available through National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA).

More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) today, and nearly two-thirds of Americans with AD are women. This sex difference may be due to the higher longevity women generally experience; however, increasing evidence suggests that longevity alone is not a sufficient explanation and there may be other factors at play. The Alzheimer's Association convened an expert think tank to focus on the state of the science and level of evidence around gender and biological sex differences for AD, including the knowledge gaps and areas of science that need to be more fully addressed. This article summarizes the think tank discussion, moving forward a research agenda and funding program to better understand the biological underpinnings of sex- and gender-related disparities of risk for AD.

Background/objectives

Exposure to air pollution may contribute to both increasing depressive symptoms and decreasing episodic memory in older adulthood, but few studies have examined this hypothesis in a longitudinal context. Accordingly, we examined the association between air pollution and changes in depressive symptoms (DS) and episodic memory (EM) and their interrelationship in oldest-old (aged 80 and older) women.

Design

Prospective cohort data from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes.

Setting

Geographically diverse community-dwelling population.

Participants

A total of 1,583 dementia-free women aged 80 and older.

Measurements

Women completed up to six annual memory assessments (latent composite of East Boston Memory Test and Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status) and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). We estimated 3-year average exposures to regional particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter below 2.5 μm (PM_2.5 ) (interquartile range [IQR] = 3.35 μg/m³ ) and gaseous nitrogen dioxide (NO₂ ) (IQR = 9.55 ppb) at baseline and during a remote period 10 years earlier, using regionalized national universal kriging.

Results

Latent change structural equation models examined whether residing in areas with higher pollutant levels was associated with annual changes in standardized EM and DS while adjusting for potential confounders. Remote NO₂ (β = .287 per IQR; P = .002) and PM_2.5 (β = .170 per IQR; P = .019) exposure was significantly associated with larger increases in standardized DS, although the magnitude of the difference, less than 1 point on the GDS-15, is of questionable clinical significance. Higher DS were associated with accelerated EM declines (β = -.372; P = .001), with a significant indirect effect of remote NO₂ and PM_2.5 exposure on EM declines mediated by DS. There were no other significant indirect exposure effects.

Conclusion

These findings in oldest-old women point to potential adverse effects of late-life exposure to air pollution on subsequent interplay between DS and EM, highlighting air pollution as an environmental health risk factor for older women.