Lopez de Coca Teresa, Moreno Lucrecia, Pardo Juan, Pérez-Tur Jordi, Ramos Hernán, Villagrasa Victoria
Cátedra DeCo MICOF-CEU UCH, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, Valencia, Spain.
Department of Pharmacy, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, Valencia, Spain.
Front Public Health. 2024 Jul 17;12:1395877. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1395877. eCollection 2024.
Prior to the onset of dementia, individuals commonly undergo a phase marked by subtle cognitive changes, known as subtle cognitive decline. Recognizing these early cognitive alterations is crucial, as they can serve as indicators of an impending decline in cognitive function, warranting timely intervention and support.
To determine the incidence of subtle cognitive decline in a population of Spanish women and establish the relationship with possible protective and/or risk factors such as cognitive reserve, cardiovascular risk factors, medication consumption and psychosocial factors.
This is a cross-sectional observational study with women from the general population and a more homogeneous population composed of nuns from the Valencian region (Spain).
A validated questionnaire was used including lifestyle variables, chronic illnesses, level of education and pharmacological treatments. Three validated subtle cognitive decline screening tests with varying levels of sensitivity and specificity were used: Memory Impairment Screening, Pfeiffer's Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire, and Semantic Verbal Fluency.
Our results suggest that nuns may have a significantly reduced risk of cognitive decline compared to the general population (20.67% in nuns vs. 36.63% in the general population). This lower risk for subtle cognitive decline in nuns may be partly attributed to their higher cognitive reserve and long-time engagement in intellectually stimulating activities. Additionally, nuns tend to adopt healthy lifestyles, they are not isolated because they live in community and obtained lower scores for risk factors such as depression, anticholinergic burden, and benzodiazepine consumption.
A healthy lifestyle combined with intellectually stimulating activities is related with preserved cognitive function.
在痴呆症发作之前，个体通常会经历一个以细微认知变化为特征的阶段，即细微认知衰退。识别这些早期认知改变至关重要，因为它们可作为认知功能即将衰退的指标，需要及时干预和支持。
确定西班牙女性人群中细微认知衰退的发生率，并确定其与可能的保护和/或风险因素的关系，如认知储备、心血管危险因素、药物消费和社会心理因素。
这是一项横断面观察性研究，研究对象包括来自普通人群的女性以及由西班牙巴伦西亚地区的修女组成的更为同质的人群。
使用了一份经过验证的问卷，包括生活方式变量、慢性病、教育水平和药物治疗。使用了三种具有不同敏感性和特异性水平的经过验证的细微认知衰退筛查测试：记忆障碍筛查、 Pfeiffer简易精神状态问卷和语义言语流畅性测试。
我们的结果表明，与普通人群相比，修女认知衰退的风险可能显著降低（修女为20.67%，普通人群为36.63%）。修女细微认知衰退风险较低可能部分归因于她们较高的认知储备以及长期参与智力刺激活动。此外，修女倾向于采用健康的生活方式，她们并非独居，而是生活在群体中，并且在抑郁、抗胆碱能负担和苯二氮䓬类药物消费等风险因素方面得分较低。
健康的生活方式与智力刺激活动相结合与认知功能的保留有关。
