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Exposure factors associated with dementia among older adults in Iceland: the AGES-Reykjavik study

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Abstract

The study aimed to assess whether factors related to cognitive performance were associated with the development of dementia. Additionally, the study aimed to establish whether cognitive performance at baseline or change in cognition between baseline and follow-up (five-year period) had a stronger association with whether an individual would fulfill a dementia criterion at follow-up. The data was collected from 2002 to 2011. Logistic regression was applied to the AGES-Reykjavik Study epidemiological data. The analysis, which builds upon previous data analyses of the same dataset, included 1,491 participants between the ages of 66 and 90. All those included were considered to have normal cognition at baseline; 8.2% (n = 123) of them fulfilled a dementia criterion at follow-up five years later. The study's results indicated that being high on cognitive reserve factors reduced the risk of developing dementia. Compared to other known dementia risk factors, cognitive reserve factors (education level, participation in leisure activities, and self-reported health) were more likely than others to have an association with dementia. Additionally, the study's findings showed that cognitive performance at baseline, rather than change in cognition between baseline and follow-up five years later, had a stronger association with dementia at the follow-up assessment. Together, these findings support the notion that promoting high cognitive reserve throughout the lifespan and reaching high cognitive performance is important in reducing dementia risk.

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Funding

This work was supported by The Foundation of St. Josef’s Hospital in cooperation with The Icelandic Gerontological Research Center, National University Hospital of Iceland. The AGES-Reykjavik Study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute of Aging and the National Eye Institute, ZIAEY00401), National Institutes of Health contract number N01-AG-1–2100, the Icelandic Heart Association, and the Icelandic Parliament.

Additional grants were provided by Landspítali – University Hospital Research Fund, the Icelandic Gerontological Society, the Council on Aging in Iceland, Helga Jónsdóttir and Sigurliði Kristjánsson Memorial Fund and the Sustainability Institute and Forum (SIF) at Reykjavik University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Reykjavik University, Menntavegur 1, 102, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Vaka Valsdóttir, Brynja Björk Magnúsdóttir & María K. Jónsdóttir

  2. RHLÖ – Icelandic Gerontological Research Center, Landspítali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Vaka Valsdóttir & Milan Chang

  3. Mental Health Services, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Brynja Björk Magnúsdóttir & María K. Jónsdóttir

  4. Department of Economics, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Haukur Freyr Gylfason

  5. Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Thor Aspelund & Vilmundur Gudnason

  6. The Icelandic Heart Association, Kopavogur, Iceland

    Thor Aspelund & Vilmundur Gudnason

  7. Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA

    Lenore J. Launer

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  1. Vaka Valsdóttir
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Valsdóttir, V., Magnúsdóttir, B.B., Gylfason, H.F. et al. Exposure factors associated with dementia among older adults in Iceland: the AGES-Reykjavik study. GeroScience 45, 1953–1965 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-023-00804-7

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