A – 11 The Relationship between Retirement Age, Occupational Complexity, and Verbal Learning and Memory in an Amyloid-Positive, Racially Diverse Sample

Objective Few studies consider retirement age or occupational complexity as a predictive factor in cognitive aging. We hypothesized that later retirement age and greater occupational complexity would be associated with better verbal learning and memory scores within an amyloid-enriched, racially-diverse cohort from longitudinal cognitive aging data. Method Data were obtained from 160 retired participants (87 non-Hispanic white [NHW], 73 Black American [BA]) of the Health and Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities who had positive amyloid Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Hierarchical linear regression models examined if retirement age or occupational complexity (laborer/service=23, clerical/sales=47, professional/administrative/managerial=90) is associated with verbal learning/memory (Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test Trials 1-5 and delayed recall, respectively) when controlling for age (M=72.09, SD=5.81) and education (M=15.43, SD=2.47). If significant, we stratified by race to examine racial differences. Results In the full sample, greater occupational complexity was significantly associated with better verbal learning (p=.006) and memory (p=.013). When stratified by race, greater occupational complexity significantly predicted better verbal learning (p=.010) and memory (p=.049) in the BA subsample, but not the NHW subsample (p>.05). Retirement age did not significantly predict verbal learning or memory. Conclusion Findings suggest that higher occupational complexity may serve as a unique protective factor for verbal learning and memory in amyloid-positive BA individuals, though not for NHW individuals. Further, older retirement age, previously considered a proxy for longer cognitive engagement, does not relate to better verbal learning and memory in amyloid positive individuals, possibly suggesting that the type of work, rather than length of work, relates to verbal learning and memory.