Cognitive Function Changes in Older People. Results of Second Wave of Cognition of Older People, Education, Recreational Activities, NutritIon, Comorbidities, fUnctional Capacity Studies (COPERNICUS).

BACKGROUND: Cognitive reserve explains why subjects with more years of education, professional achievement, or participation in recreational activities show less cognitive decline with aging. We hypothesize that levels of recreational travel, education, occupation, systemic health, physical performance, and current cognitive activity levels affect the trajectory of cognitive function in older, healthy people in Poland. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Healthy, older people (N = 205) were examined and followed-up at 2 years. Participants completed physical and cognitive function assessments: including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and its two subtests Delayed Recall (DR) and Verbal Fluency (VF), and Trail Making Test Part B (TMT B). Factors associated with cognitive functioning were also examined. RESULTS: The MMSE result significantly decreased over 2 years. No significant decrease in other cognitive tests was noted. However, the trajectory of cognitive tests results varied between individual participants. Percentage of variance of change was explained by the following predictors: 21 in MMSE, 24 in MoCA, 8 in DR, 25 in VF, and 24 in TMT B. Age and the presence of varicose veins were significantly linked to negative changes in MMSE and MoCA scores, while working in a professional occupational status associated with a higher score. The subgroup with varicose veins did worse on the Delayed Recall subtest of MoCA. CONCLUSION: Cognitive reserve could be extended by proxies of reserve that are related to systemic health and travel activity. The latter is a combination of social, physical, and cognitive activity and potentially might serve as an intervention to improve cognitive function in older people. However, due to the limitations of this study, results should be interpreted with caution and needs to be replicated in the further studies.

Interaction between Subjective Memory Decline and Depression Symptom Intensity in Older People. Results of the Second Wave of Cognition of Older People, Education, Recreational Activities, Nutrition, Comorbidities, and Functional Capacity Studies (COPERNICUS).

BACKGROUND: Prevalence of subjective memory impairment (SMC), with or without objective memory impairment, and the mediating role of depression symptom intensity was examined in older people. METHODS: n = 205 subjects (60 years old and older) were examined and followed up at two years. Cognitive function was examined using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Delayed Recall (DR) subtest. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used as a screening tool for depression. Statistical analysis was performed using linear mixed models. RESULTS: A total of 144 subjects (70.24%) had SMC. MoCA Delayed Recall scores were not significantly changed in relation to time and SMC. Dynamics of SMC significantly influenced changes in GDS score (p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: SMC and objective memory impairment do not fully overlap each other. Subjects without SMC for longer than two years noted less intensity of depression symptoms in comparison to subgroup with SMC. However, occurrence of SMC in subjects who were previously free of SMC, was not related to increase in depression symptom intensity.