Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, Germany.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Feb 17;76(3):620-631. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa223.
Retirement is a potential trigger for cognitive aging as it may be a stressful life event accompanied by changes in everyday activities. However, the consequences of retirement may differ across institutional contexts which shape retirement options. Comparing memory trajectories before and after retirement in 17 European countries, this study aims to identify cross-national differences in the association between retirement and memory decline.
Respondents to the longitudinal Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE; N = 8,646) aged 50+ who were in paid work at baseline and retired during the observation period completed up to 6 memory assessments (immediate and delayed word recall) over 13 years. Three-level (time points, individuals, and countries) linear mixed models with country-level random slopes for retirement were estimated to evaluate whether memory decline accelerated after retirement and if this association differed between countries.
On average, retirement was associated with a moderate decrement in word recall (b = -0.273, 95% CI -0.441, -0.104) and memory decline accelerated after retirement (b = -0.044, 95% CI -0.070, -0.018). Significant between-country heterogeneity in memory decline after retirement existed (variance = 0.047, 95% CI (0.013, 0.168). Memory decline after retirement was more rapid in Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, and Estonia compared to Northern and Central European countries.
Memory decline postretirement was faster in Mediterranean and eastern European countries, which are characterized by less generous welfare systems with comparatively low pension benefits. Evaluation of resources that could protect retirees from memory decline would be valuable.
退休可能是认知衰老的一个潜在触发因素，因为它可能是一个伴随着日常活动变化的压力性生活事件。然而，退休的后果可能因塑造退休选择的制度环境而有所不同。本研究比较了 17 个欧洲国家退休前后的记忆轨迹，旨在确定退休与记忆衰退之间的关联在跨国层面上的差异。
参加欧洲健康、老龄化和退休纵向调查（SHARE）的年龄在 50 岁及以上、基线时从事有偿工作且在观察期内退休的受访者完成了多达 6 次记忆评估（即时和延迟单词回忆），时间跨度为 13 年。使用三级（时间点、个体和国家）线性混合模型，对国家层面的退休随机斜率进行估计，以评估退休后记忆衰退是否加速，以及这种关联在国家之间是否存在差异。
平均而言，退休与单词回忆的适度下降相关（b=-0.273，95%CI-0.441，-0.104），并且退休后记忆衰退加速（b=-0.044，95%CI-0.070，-0.018）。退休后记忆衰退的国家间存在显著的异质性（方差=0.047，95%CI（0.013，0.168）。与北欧和中欧国家相比，意大利、希腊、捷克共和国、波兰、葡萄牙和爱沙尼亚的退休后记忆衰退速度更快。
地中海和东欧国家的退休后记忆衰退速度更快，这些国家的福利制度不太慷慨，养老金福利相对较低。评估可以保护退休人员免受记忆衰退影响的资源将是有价值的。
