Abstrakt
Level of education is known to correlate with cognitive performance in some tests and it is considered a part of the cognitive reserve. Type of profession (manual/mental) and mentally demanding leisure activities are also included in the cognitive reserve concept.
Our aim is to find whether the type of profession and number of regularly performed activities during productive adulthood and retirement (attending a course at a university of third age, attending other courses such as language or ICT, physical exercise, aerobic activity of medium intensity at least 2,5 hours per week, a hobby, using a computer, reading books, reading newspapers and magazines, doing crossword puzzles or quizzes) predict cognitive performance in older age. We assessed 324 cognitively normal community-dwelling older adults (60-74 years of age) without serious neurological or psychiatric disorder who are retired and not economically active for minimum 2 years.
Three composite scores (CS) were created from the administered neuropsychological tests: CS Memory - Story, Boston Naming Test-15; CS Visuo-graphomotor - Trail Making Test A and B, Digit Symbol Coding; CS Verbal - Prague Stroop Test (Dots, Words, Colors), Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test Trial 1, Category Verbal Fluency - Animals. Groups with performance above the 75th percentile for each composite score were identified.
Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to know whether the type of profession and number of activities predicted cognitive performance above the 75th percentile. The level of education was added in block 1, then in block 2 type of profession and a number of activities (past and current) were added.
The level of education was a significant predictor (all ps 0.05; OR = 1.79 - 1.95). In block 2, more current activities were significant predictor of better performance in memory (p 0.05; OR = 1.21 - 2.05).
Even though the probability of better cognitive performance rises with more activities only slightly, we may conclude that there is a potential positive effect of active lifestyle on the cognitive performance in older age. Thus, it could be an optimistic message that it is possible to escape from the predicament of lower education.