Change in Cognitive Capabilities in the Oldest Old: The Effects of Proximity to Death in Genetically Related Individuals Over a 6-Year Period

Change in cognitive abilities was assessed over a 6-year period in a sample of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twin pairs ( N = 507 individuals), aged 80 and older (mean age = 83.3 years; SD = 3.1), who remained nondemented over the course of the study. Latent growth models (LGMs) show that chron...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology and aging 2004-03, Vol.19 (1), p.145-156
Main Authors: Johansson, Boo, Hofer, Scott M, Allaire, Jason C, Maldonado-Molina, Mildred M, Piccinin, Andrea M, Berg, Stig, Pedersen, Nancy L, McClearn, Gerald E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult. Elderly
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Biological and medical sciences
Case studies
Changes
Cognition & reasoning
Cognition Disorders - diagnosis
Cognition Disorders - epidemiology
Cognitive abilities
Cognitive Ability
Death
Developmental psychology
Elderly people
Family
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetics
Gerontology
Health
Human
Humans
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS
Longitudinal studies
Male
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Multivariate analysis
Neuropsychological Tests
Older people
Older people and ageing
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Time Factors
TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN
Twin studies
Twins
Very old
Äldre och åldrande
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Summary:Change in cognitive abilities was assessed over a 6-year period in a sample of monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twin pairs ( N = 507 individuals), aged 80 and older (mean age = 83.3 years; SD = 3.1), who remained nondemented over the course of the study. Latent growth models (LGMs) show that chronological age and time to death are consistent predictors of decline in measures of memory, reasoning, speed, and verbal abilities. Multivariate LGM analysis resulted in weak and often negative correlations among rates of change between individuals within twin pairs, indicating greater differential change within twin pairs than occurs on average across twin pairs. These findings highlight several challenges for estimating genetic sources of variance in the context of compromised health and mortality-related change.
ISSN:0882-7974
1939-1498
1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.145