Everyday functioning in relation to cognitive functioning and neuroimaging in community-dwelling Hispanic and non-Hispanic older adults.
The purpose of this study was to examine how a specific informant-based measure of everyday functioning, the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE; Jorm & Korten, 1988) relates to cognition and structural neuroimaging in a large multicultural, multilingual sample of Caucasians and Hispanics. Cognitive variables included selected subtests from the Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales (SENAS; Mungas et al., 2000): Verbal Memory, Object Naming, Verbal Attention Span, Verbal Conceptual Thinking, and Pattern Recognition. The association between the IQCODE and selected neuroimaging variables, hippocampal volume and white matter hyperintensity, was evaluated in a subsample of English- and Spanish-speaking Hispanic individuals. The cognitive variables showed strong bivariate relationships with the IQCODE, although only Verbal Memory and Object Naming independently predicted level of functional ability. Verbal Memory was the strongest predictor of functional status, accounting for 23% of the variance in the IQCODE. White matter hyperintensity was also independently related to the IQCODE, accounting for 18% of the variance. Hippocampal volume was related to the IQCODE in a simple bivariate analysis, but was not an independent predictor of reported functional status after controlling for age. The relationships between cognitive variables and functional status, as well as between the imaging variables and the IQCODE, did not differ across language-ethnic groups.
Farias
Sarah Tomaszewski
ST
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA. sarah.farias@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Mungas
Dan
D
Reed
Bruce
B
Haan
Mary N
MN
Jagust
William J
WJ
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014706:Verbal Learning