title: Racial/Ethnic Differences in Trajectories of Cognitive Function in Older Adults.
abstract: The objective of this study is to (a) examine racial/ethnic differences in trajectories of cognitive function and (b) evaluate the role of education and health behaviors (physical activity [PA] and smoking) as mediators of racial/ethnic differences in the rate of decline in cognitive function in older adults.
  
  
  
  Data for this study came from the Health and Retirement Study ( n = 3,424). Hierarchical linear models were used to define the trajectory of cognitive function between 2002 and 2008. Participants were classified based on PA as non-vigorously active, intermittent vigorously active, and consistently vigorously active.
  
  
  
  After adding education, the Hispanic's and Black's disparities in cognitive performance were slightly attenuated (Hispanics, β = -1.049, p < .001; Blacks, β = -3.397, p < .001) but were still different from Whites. Smoking was not associated with the cognition intercept or rate of decline.
  
  
  
  We found education had a partial mediating effect on racial differences in levels of cognition but not on the rate of change over time.
authors.affiliation: 1 University at Albany, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vásquez
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.|3 Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Anda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Botoseneanu
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
authors.forename: Joan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: 1 University at Albany, School of Public Health, Rensselaer, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044383:Black People; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044465:White People
keywords: cognition; education; ethnicity; physical activity; race; smoking