INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 08 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 01:45 pm - 03:00 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 08: Cognition \| Cognitive Reserve Variables Final Abstract #32 Childhood Reading/Spelling Difficulties' Associations with Later-Life Cognitive Status and Task Performance: Potential Implications for Cognitive Decline Ezra Mauer, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States Rian Bogley, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Isabel Elaine Allen, Department of Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Valentina Diaz, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Shubir Dutt, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Sarah Inkelis, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Christa Watson Pereira, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Kaitlin Casaletto, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Bruce Miller, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Joel Kramer, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Zachary Miller, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Category: Aging Keyword 1: dyslexia Keyword 2: mild cognitive impairment Keyword 3: aging (normal) Objective: Developmental dyslexia is characterized by childhood reading/spelling difficulty, is associated with language/executive function differences (Peterson & Pennington, 2015), and may be linked to neurodegenerative disease in later life (e.g., Miller et al., 2013). Inaccessibility of diagnostic assessment has impeded identification of adults with dyslexia. Consequently, neurocognitive profiles of adults with dyslexia and dyslexia’s effects on cognitive aging remain understudied. Here – among a sample of healthy, aging adults (HA) and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) aged 45 years and older – we tested how history of childhood reading/spelling difficulties associated with later life cognitive performances and risk for cognitive impairment. Participants and Methods: Sample consisted of 720 adults (187 MCI, 533 HA, age at testing = 45-102 years, M _age= 66.76, 54.7% female) who completed neurocognitive testing. We also used the UCSF Memory and Aging Center Educational and Developmental History Screening Questionnaire (EDevHx). Summed participant responses on two EDevHx items (“Did you have difficulties reading?” and “Did you have difficulties with spelling?”; answered on 4-point scale, 0 = never, 3 = always) were recoded to produce a binary indicator of childhood reading/spelling difficulties (i.e., endorsed difficulties vs. denied difficulties). One hundred sixty-one participants (62 MCI, 99 HA) endorsed reading/spelling difficulties. Data from the following tasks were used in analyses: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), phrase repetition, forward digit span, backward digit span, Stroop Color Naming, Stroop Inhibition, modified Trail-Making Test, D-word fluency, animal fluency, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Design Fluency, Condition 1, and the Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition Word Reading (Delis et al., 2001; Folstein et al., 1975; Kramer et al., 2003; Stroop, 1935; Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006). Variables that may confound associations of interest (cognitive status, sex, years of education, age, handedness) were included in main analyses if they related to both predictor and outcome variables. Results: Controlling for sex, logistic regression analysis revealed endorsement of reading/spelling difficulty was associated with higher likelihood of MCI (OR = 2.06, p < .001). Controlling for cognitive status and sex, general linear model analyses revealed unique, negative associations between reading/spelling difficulties and MMSE (β = -.12, p = .001), phrase repetition (β = -.10, p = .020), forward digit span (β = -.12, p = .003), backward digit span (β = -.13, p < .001), Stroop Inhibition (β = -.09, p = .021), and word reading (β = -.29, p < .001). Significant cognitive-status-by-reading/spelling-difficulties interaction effects were found for MMSE (β = .16, p = .018) and word reading (β = .30, p < .001) such that the effect of reading/spelling difficulties on task performance was greater for MCI participants. Conclusions: Self-reported childhood reading/spelling difficulties negatively related to cognitive task performance across many language/executive function tasks, suggesting overall persistence of neurocognitive differences observed in dyslexia into later life. Reading/spelling difficulties related to MCI likelihood and showed a stronger association with certain cognitive outcomes in MCI adults. This could indicate either neurodevelopmental reading/spelling difficulty confers cognitive decline risk or neurodevelopmental differences are misunderstood as cognitive decline (leading to potential MCI misdiagnosis).

Poster

02/16/2024
01:45 pm - 03:00 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 08: Cognition | Cognitive Reserve Variables

Final Abstract #32

Childhood Reading/Spelling Difficulties' Associations with Later-Life Cognitive Status and Task Performance: Potential Implications for Cognitive Decline

Ezra Mauer, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
Rian Bogley, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Isabel Elaine Allen, Department of Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Valentina Diaz, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Shubir Dutt, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Sarah Inkelis, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Christa Watson Pereira, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Kaitlin Casaletto, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Bruce Miller, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Joel Kramer, Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Zachary Miller, Dyslexia Center and Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States

Category: Aging

Keyword 1: dyslexia
Keyword 2: mild cognitive impairment
Keyword 3: aging (normal)

Objective:

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by childhood reading/spelling difficulty, is associated with language/executive function differences (Peterson & Pennington, 2015), and may be linked to neurodegenerative disease in later life (e.g., Miller et al., 2013). Inaccessibility of diagnostic assessment has impeded identification of adults with dyslexia. Consequently, neurocognitive profiles of adults with dyslexia and dyslexia’s effects on cognitive aging remain understudied. Here – among a sample of healthy, aging adults (HA) and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) aged 45 years and older – we tested how history of childhood reading/spelling difficulties associated with later life cognitive performances and risk for cognitive impairment.

Participants and Methods:

Sample consisted of 720 adults (187 MCI, 533 HA, age at testing = 45-102 years, M _age= 66.76, 54.7% female) who completed neurocognitive testing. We also used the UCSF Memory and Aging Center Educational and Developmental History Screening Questionnaire (EDevHx). Summed participant responses on two EDevHx items (“Did you have difficulties reading?” and “Did you have difficulties with spelling?”; answered on 4-point scale, 0 = never, 3 = always) were recoded to produce a binary indicator of childhood reading/spelling difficulties (i.e., endorsed difficulties vs. denied difficulties). One hundred sixty-one participants (62 MCI, 99 HA) endorsed reading/spelling difficulties. Data from the following tasks were used in analyses: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), phrase repetition, forward digit span, backward digit span, Stroop Color Naming, Stroop Inhibition, modified Trail-Making Test, D-word fluency, animal fluency, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Design Fluency, Condition 1, and the Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition Word Reading (Delis et al., 2001; Folstein et al., 1975; Kramer et al., 2003; Stroop, 1935; Wilkinson & Robertson, 2006). Variables that may confound associations of interest (cognitive status, sex, years of education, age, handedness) were included in main analyses if they related to both predictor and outcome variables.

Results:

Controlling for sex, logistic regression analysis revealed endorsement of reading/spelling difficulty was associated with higher likelihood of MCI (OR = 2.06, p < .001). Controlling for cognitive status and sex, general linear model analyses revealed unique, negative associations between reading/spelling difficulties and MMSE (β = -.12, p = .001), phrase repetition (β = -.10, p = .020), forward digit span (β = -.12, p = .003), backward digit span (β = -.13, p < .001), Stroop Inhibition (β = -.09, p = .021), and word reading (β = -.29, p < .001). Significant cognitive-status-by-reading/spelling-difficulties interaction effects were found for MMSE (β = .16, p = .018) and word reading (β = .30, p < .001) such that the effect of reading/spelling difficulties on task performance was greater for MCI participants.

Conclusions:

Self-reported childhood reading/spelling difficulties negatively related to cognitive task performance across many language/executive function tasks, suggesting overall persistence of neurocognitive differences observed in dyslexia into later life. Reading/spelling difficulties related to MCI likelihood and showed a stronger association with certain cognitive outcomes in MCI adults. This could indicate either neurodevelopmental reading/spelling difficulty confers cognitive decline risk or neurodevelopmental differences are misunderstood as cognitive decline (leading to potential MCI misdiagnosis).