Semantic item-level metrics relate to future memory decline beyond existing cognitive tests in older adults without dementia

Autor: Jet M.J. Vonk, Mirjam I. Geerlings, Justina F. Avila-Rieger, Carolyn L. Qian, Nicole Schupf, Richard Mayeux, Adam M. Brickman, Jennifer Manly
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Psychology and Aging.
ISSN: 1939-1498
0882-7974
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000747
Popis: Objective: A critical need persists to develop sensitive and high-access cognitive markers for early detection of dementia. Among older adults without dementia, we investigated if item-level metrics of semantic fluency related to episodic memory decline above and beyond traditional neuropsychological measures and total fluency score.Method: Participants were drawn from the community-based WHICAP cohort (N=583 English speakers, mean age=76.3±6.8) followed up to 5 visits across up to 11 years. We investigated the distribution of seven semantic fluency metrics—one traditional, four psycholinguistic, two sequential—by age, sex/gender, race, education, APOE e4 status, and subjective cognitive complaints. Subsequently, associations of each fluency metric with memory performance and decline over time were investigated using latent growth curve models covaried for age and recruitment wave. Additional models adjusted for other standard neuropsychological tests, and tested for moderation by education and race.Results: Both traditional and psycholinguistic metrics were associated with memory decline in the first set of models. When adjusting for other cognitive tests, however, only psycholinguistic metrics remained associated—even when covarying for total fluency score. A multiple-group modeling approach showed that the relationship of semantic fluency metrics with memory decline did not differ across race or education.Conclusions: Item-level data hold a wealth of information with potential to reveal subtle cognitive decline among older adults without dementia beyond traditional neuropsychological measures. Implementation of psycholinguistic metrics may point to cognitive tools that have better prognostic value or are more sensitive to cognitive change in the context of clinical trials or observational studies.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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