Estimating Memory Decline Among Nondemented Older Adults

• Activity Number: 300 - SPEED: Statistical Epidemiology
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 2018 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
• Author(s): Wenzhu Mowrey* and Ellen Grober and Molly E Zimmerman and Mindy J Katz and Charles B Hall and Martin J Sliwinski and Richard B Lipton
• Companies: Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Pennsylvania State University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Keywords: dementia; memory; longitudinal analysis

Abstract

We aimed to estimate age-related decline in episodic memory among nondemented older adults using data from the Einstein Aging Study. Two episodic memory tests, the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test and Logical Memory I, were administered annually to older adults initially aged 70?90. This study included 1827 participants who were free of dementia at baseline and had follow-up of up to 5 years. Persons developing incident dementia within 5 years were excluded. Final follow-up status was used to define the following three subgroups: Robust normal group included participants who had remained dementia free for 5 years; Drop out group included participants who withdrew from the study or died within 5 years; Insufficient follow-up group included participants who were followed up < 5 years and were still being actively followed. Linear mixed models with random intercept and random slope were used to estimate mean memory performance at age 80, i.e. intercepts, and age slopes. Results show that overall memory performance is relatively stable over time in nondemented older adults. The more striking differences are in the intercepts which may reflect many years of change.