Profiles of lifestyle health behaviors and cognitive decline in older adults

• Published in: Alzheimer's & dementia 2024-01, Vol.20 (1), p.472-482
• Main Authors: Halloway, Shannon, Wagner, Maude, Tangney, Christy, Lange‐Maia, Brittney S., Bennett, David A., Arvanitakis, Zoe, Schoeny, Michael E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aging; Alzheimer's disease; Apolipoproteins; Blood & organ donations; Cognitive ability; cognitive decline; Cognitive functioning; Cognitive impairment; Cognitive-behavioral factors; Dementia; Diet; Disease; Exercise; Health behavior; Health care; Health status; latent profile analysis; lifestyle behaviors; Lifestyles; longitudinal study; Memory; Motor ability; neuropsychological tests; Older people; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Questionnaires; Risk factors; Sociodemographics; Socioeconomic factors
• ISSN: 1552-5260; 1552-5279; 1552-5279
• DOI: 10.1002/alz.13459

INTRODUCTION We aimed to identify profiles of modifiable, late‐life lifestyle health behaviors related to subsequent maintenance of cognition and explore sociodemographics and health characteristics as effect modifiers. METHODS Analyses used data from 715 older adults without baseline dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project and with lifestyle health behaviors (physical activity, cognitive activity, healthy diet, social activity) at baseline and ≥ 2 annual assessments of cognition. We used latent profile analysis to group participants based on behavior patterns and assessed change in cognition by group. RESULTS Three latent profiles were identified: high (n = 183), moderate (n = 441), and low (n = 91) engagement in health behaviors. Compared to high engagement, the moderate (mean difference [MD] = ‐0.02, 95% CI = [‐0.03;‐0.0002], p = 0.048) and low (MD = ‐0.06, 95% CI = [‐0.08;‐0.03], p