Predictors of Cognitive Change in Cognitively Healthy Older Women in Panama: the PARI-HD Study

Background: Evidence suggests that a combination of biological and social factors influence risk of dementia differently for women and men. In healthy older women, several factors may contribute to changes in cognition.

Objective: Describe the characteristics associated with variation in cognition in a sample of cognitively healthy older Panamanian women.

Methods: The study includes cross-sectional analyses of cognitive domains at baseline (= 357) and 17-month (SD = 2.0) follow-up (= 200) for women aged 60 years and older enrolled in the Panama Aging Research Initiative-Health Disparities (PARI-HD) study. Instruments included clinical questionnaires, physiological measures, and a neuropsychological test battery assessing global cognition and seven cognitive domains. Multiple regression analyses examined the associations between demographic and clinical characteristics and cognition at baseline. Repeated measures analyses were used to investigate changes in cognition from baseline to follow-up.

Results: On average, participants were 68.6 years of age (SD = 5.9) with 16.1 years of education (SD = 4.7). Age, income, and education showed robust associations with baseline cognition. Subjective cognitive impairment was associated with lower performance in global cognition, verbal learning, and memory domains. Only performance in the attention domain decreased at follow-up, and subjective health state and depressive symptoms significantly predicted the change in attention.

Discussion: Our study findings contribute to the investigation of cognitive health in older Hispanic women and to the understanding of sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with cognitive decline and the progression to cognitive impairment and dementia.