Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, University of Cagliari, Via Is Mirrionis 1, Cagliari, 09123, Italy.
Department of Mechanical, Chemical, and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo 2, Cagliari, 09123, Italy.
Psychiatr Q. 2023 Dec;94(4):617-632. doi: 10.1007/s11126-023-10047-6. Epub 2023 Aug 29.
The main purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of cognitive reserve in the relationship between functional health (expressed through the amount and intensity of performed physical activity objectively assessed using wearable accelerometers) and psychological well-being (i.e., assessed in terms of self-reported depressive signs) of older people living in an area of exceptional longevity, the so-called Sardinian Blue Zone. A further goal was to investigate the impact of gender on the cognitive reserve and physical health of our participants, using global cognitive functioning as a covariate. A battery of tests assessing motor efficiency, cognitive reserve, global cognitive functioning, and self-reported depressive symptoms was individually presented to 120 community dwellers (M = 82 years, SD = 8.4 years) of the Sardinian Blue Zone. Significant associations were found between cognitive reserve, motor efficiency, and self-reported depressive signs. Moreover, three mediation analyses documented that distinct indexes of cognitive reserve and motor efficiency explain 27.2-31% of the variance in the self-reported depression condition. Following this, it was also found that people with scarce cognitive reserve tended to exhibit significant signs of depression and showed worse motor abilities. In addition, after controlling for the effect of global cognitive functioning, motor efficiency, and cognitive reserve were generally more preserved in males than in females. Overall, these findings suggest that cognitive reserve is a compensatory resource that contributes significantly to the enhancement of health-related quality of life in the last decades of life.
本研究的主要目的是检验认知储备在功能健康（通过使用可穿戴加速度计客观评估的进行的身体活动的数量和强度来表示）和心理幸福感（即通过自我报告的抑郁症状来评估）之间的中介作用老年人生活在一个特殊的长寿地区，即所谓的撒丁岛蓝区。另一个目标是使用全球认知功能作为协变量，研究性别对我们参与者的认知储备和身体健康的影响。向撒丁岛蓝区的 120 名社区居民（M=82 岁，SD=8.4 岁）单独呈现了一套评估运动效率、认知储备、整体认知功能和自我报告抑郁症状的测试。发现认知储备、运动效率和自我报告的抑郁症状之间存在显著关联。此外，三项中介分析记录了认知储备和运动效率的不同指标解释了自我报告的抑郁状况中 27.2-31%的差异。在此之后，还发现认知储备不足的人往往表现出明显的抑郁症状，运动能力也较差。此外，在控制了整体认知功能的影响后，男性的运动效率和认知储备通常比女性更能得到保留。总体而言，这些发现表明认知储备是一种补偿资源，对生命最后几十年的健康相关生活质量的提高有重要贡献。
