Thorvaldsson Valgeir, Karlsson Peter, Skoog Johan, Skoog Ingmar, Johansson Boo
Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, Sweden.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2017 Jan;72(1):16-24. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbw125.
To evaluate birth cohort differences in level of cognition and rate of change in old age.
Data were drawn from three population-based Swedish samples including age-homogenous cohorts born 1901/02, 1906/07, and 1930, and measured on the same cognitive tests at ages 70, 75, and 79 as part of the Gerontological and Geriatric Populations Studies in Gothenburg (H70). We fitted growth curve models to the data using a Bayesian framework and derived estimates and inferences from the marginal posterior distributions.
We found moderate to large birth cohort effects in level of performance on all cognitive outcomes. Later born cohorts, however, showed steeper linear rate of decline on reasoning, spatial ability, and perceptual- and motor-speed, but not on picture recognition memory and verbal ability.
These findings provide strong evidence for substantial birth cohort effects in cognition in older ages and emphasize the importance of life long environmental factors in shaping cognitive aging trajectories. Inferences from cognitive testing, and standardization of test scores, in elderly populations must take into account the substantial birth cohort differences.
评估老年期认知水平和变化率的出生队列差异。
数据取自瑞典三个基于人群的样本，包括出生于1901/02年、1906/07年和1930年的年龄同质队列，并作为哥德堡老年学和老年医学人群研究（H70）的一部分，在70岁、75岁和79岁时接受相同的认知测试。我们使用贝叶斯框架对数据拟合生长曲线模型，并从边际后验分布中得出估计值和推断。
我们发现所有认知结果的表现水平存在中度至较大的出生队列效应。然而，较晚出生的队列在推理、空间能力以及感知和运动速度方面显示出更陡峭的线性下降率，但在图片识别记忆和语言能力方面并非如此。
这些发现为老年期认知中出生队列效应的存在提供了有力证据，并强调了终身环境因素在塑造认知衰老轨迹方面的重要性。老年人群认知测试的推断以及测试分数的标准化必须考虑到出生队列的显著差异。
