Poster | Poster Session 06 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
04:00 pm - 05:15 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 06: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 2
Final Abstract #43
Subjective Cognitive Concerns at Baseline Predict Cognitive and Brain Aging Trajectories in Cognitively Normal Older Adults
Leslie Gaynor, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Cutter Lindbergh, University of Connecticut, Farmington, United States Michelle You, New York Medical College, Valhalla, United States Renaud La Joie, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Emily Paolillo, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Rowan Saloner, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Valentina Diaz, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Devyn Cotter, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Marie Altendahl, University of California, San Francisoc, United States Adam Staffaroni, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Joel Kramer, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Kaitlin Casaletto, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Category: Aging
Keyword 1: aging (normal)
Keyword 2: cognitive functioning
Keyword 3: everyday functioning
Objective:
Roughly 25% of functionally intact older adults report subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) without objective deficits on standard neuropsychological evaluations. There has been limited exploration of how SCC types, particularly in non-memory domains, are relevant for predicting future decline of cognition and brain volume in otherwise cognitively normal older adults. The present study examined whether multidomain SCC at baseline predict longitudinal decline of brain volume and neuropsychological test performance in cognitively normal older adults.
Participants and Methods:
Participants included 476 community-dwelling older adults (Age = 71.6 ± 7.57, Education = 17.4 ± 2.1, 56.3% female, 92.3% non-Hispanic White) enrolled in the longitudinal UCSF Brain Aging Network for Cognitive Health (BrANCH). Participants were functionally intact at baseline (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale = 0) and all follow-up visits (Average [range] visits = 2.97 [1 – 9]). At baseline, participants completed the Everyday Cognition Self-Report Scale (ECog), a 39-question self-report measure in which participants rated their ability to perform specific everyday tasks across several domains (Memory, Language, Visuospatial, Planning, Organization, Divided Attention). ECog Planning, Organization, and Divided Attention domain scores were combined to create an Executive Function (EF) SCS score. At all visits, participants completed neuropsychological testing and structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Linear mixed-effects models examined the impact of baseline SCS, time, and their interaction on cognitive test and brain volume trajectories, adjusting for age, sex, education, depressive symptoms, and total intracranial volume for MRI models.
Results:
In linear mixed-effects models, higher baseline Language SCS predicted steeper declines in memory performance (Language SCS x time: β = -0.05, p = 0.04). Higher baseline EF SCS and Language SCS predicted steeper decline in processing speed performance (EF SCS x time: β = 0.11, p = 0.04; Language x time: β = 0.11, p = 0.04). Regarding neuroanatomical outcomes, higher baseline Global SCS and Memory SCS predicted steeper total gray matter atrophy (Global SCS x time: β = -0.003, p = 0.004; Memory SCS x time: β = -0.002, p = 0.002) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex atrophy (Global SCS x time: β = -0.08, p = 0.01; Memory SCS x time: β = -0.05, p = 0.02). Only higher baseline Memory SCS predicted steeper medial temporal lobe atrophy (β = -0.03, p = 0.04). Visuospatial was the only SCS domain that did not predict cognitive decline (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Domain-specific SCS, including memory and non-memory symptoms, prognosticated domain-specific patterns of objective cognitive decline and brain atrophy. Cognitive concerns in otherwise functionally intact older adults may foretell trajectories of brain atrophy and subtle neurocognitive changes, suggesting that subjective concerns are a risk factor for future declines even among older adults without a clinical diagnosis.
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