Rush University Medical Center, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, 600 S. Paulina, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
BMC Geriatr. 2011 Sep 11;11:53. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-11-53.
Emerging data from younger and middle-aged persons suggest that cognitive ability is negatively associated with risk aversion, but this association has not been studied among older persons who are at high risk of experiencing loss of cognitive function.
Using data from 369 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging, we examined the correlates of risk aversion and tested the hypothesis that cognition is negatively associated with risk aversion. Global cognition and five specific cognitive abilities were measured via detailed cognitive testing, and risk aversion was measured using standard behavioral economics questions in which participants were asked to choose between a certain monetary payment ($15) versus a gamble in which they could gain more than $15 or gain nothing; potential gamble gains ranged from $21.79 to $151.19 with the gain amounts varied randomly over questions. We first examined the bivariate associations of age, education, sex, income and cognition with risk aversion. Next, we examined the associations between cognition and risk aversion via mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, and income. Finally, we conducted sensitivity analyses to ensure that our results were not driven by persons with preclinical cognitive impairment.
In bivariate analyses, sex, education, income and global cognition were associated with risk aversion. However, in a mixed effect model, only sex (estimate = -1.49, standard error (SE) = 0.39, p < 0.001) and global cognitive function (estimate = -1.05, standard error (SE) = 0.34, p < 0.003) were significantly inversely associated with risk aversion. Thus, a lower level of global cognitive function and female sex were associated with greater risk aversion. Moreover, performance on four out of the five cognitive domains was negatively related to risk aversion (i.e., semantic memory, episodic memory, working memory, and perceptual speed); performance on visuospatial abilities was not.
A lower level of cognitive ability and female sex are associated with greater risk aversion in advanced age.
来自年轻和中年人群的数据表明，认知能力与风险规避呈负相关，但在认知功能丧失风险较高的老年人中，尚未对此关联进行研究。
使用来自 369 名无痴呆的 Rush 记忆与衰老项目社区居民的数据，该项目是一项正在进行的衰老纵向流行病学研究，我们研究了风险规避的相关性，并检验了认知能力与风险规避呈负相关的假设。通过详细的认知测试来测量总体认知能力和五项特定认知能力，使用标准的行为经济学问题来测量风险规避，在这些问题中，参与者被要求在一定的货币支付（$15）与赌博之间做出选择，在赌博中他们可能获得超过$15 或什么都得不到；潜在的赌博收益范围从$21.79 到$151.19，收益金额在问题中随机变化。我们首先检查了年龄、教育、性别、收入和认知与风险规避的双变量相关性。接下来，我们通过混合模型检查了认知与风险规避之间的关联，该模型调整了年龄、性别、教育和收入。最后，我们进行了敏感性分析，以确保我们的结果不受临床前认知障碍患者的影响。
在双变量分析中，性别、教育、收入和总体认知与风险规避有关。然而，在混合效应模型中，只有性别（估计值=-1.49，标准误差（SE）=0.39，p<0.001）和总体认知功能（估计值=-1.05，SE=0.34，p<0.003）与风险规避呈显著负相关。因此，较低的总体认知功能和女性性别与更高的风险规避相关。此外，五项认知领域中的四项表现与风险规避呈负相关（即语义记忆、情节记忆、工作记忆和知觉速度）；而在视空间能力方面的表现则没有。
在高龄时，较低的认知能力和女性性别与更高的风险规避相关。
