Midlife aging progressively increased the prevalence of suboptimal cognitive performance, with learning and working memory showing significant vulnerability to psychosocial influences.
Cross-Sectional
Simple cognitive tests in midlife can detect physiological changes and vulnerabilities that may signal early manifestations of presymptomatic cognitive disorders.
We here posit that measurements of midlife cognition can be instructive in understanding cognitive disorders. Even though molecular events signal possible onset of cognitive disorders decades prior to their clinical diagnoses, cognition and its possible early changes in midlife remain poorly understood. We characterize midlife cognition in a cognitively healthy population-based sample using the Cogstate Brief Battery and test for associations with cardiovascular, adiposity-related, lifestyle-associated, and psychosocial variables. Learning and working memory showed significant variability and vulnerability to psychosocial influences in midlife. Furthermore, midlife aging significantly and progressively increased prevalence of suboptimal cognitive performance. Our findings suggest that physiological changes in cognition, measured with simple tests suitable for use in everyday clinical setting, may signal already in midlife the first clinical manifestations of the presymptomatic biologically defined cognitive disorders. This pilot study calls for longitudinal studies investigating midlife cognition to identify clinical correlates of biologically defined cognitive disorders.
Novotný et al. (Fri,) conducted a cross-sectional in Cognitive health. Cogstate Brief Battery was evaluated on Cognitive performance and associations with cardiovascular, adiposity-related, lifestyle-associated, and psychosocial variables. Midlife aging progressively increased the prevalence of suboptimal cognitive performance, with learning and working memory showing significant vulnerability to psychosocial influences.