![]() ![]() The decision making assessment began in 2010. ![]() The Memory and Aging Project began in 1997 and enrollment is ongoing. All potential participants who declined to participate or otherwise did not participate were not disadvantaged in any way by not participating in the study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Rush University Medical Center, and written informed consent was obtained following a detailed, in person presentation of the risks and benefits associated with participation. Participation involves risk factor assessment, detailed annual clinical evaluations including medical history, neurological and neuropsychological examinations, and organ donation at death. Participants were from the Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of chronic conditions of aging and are residents of approximately 40 senior housing facilities in the Chicago metropolitan area. Finally, we repeated these analyses with a measure of susceptibility to scams as an alternate decision making outcome. Then, we excluded persons with MCI at the time of decision making assessment and directly examined the relation of the prior rate of cognitive decline with decision making among persons without any overt cognitive impairment (i.e., no dementia or MCI). Using data from 420 non-demented persons, we first tested the hypothesis that the rate of cognitive decline prior to the decision making assessment predicted the level of decision making. To date, however, virtually nothing is known about the factors associated with poor decision making among persons without dementia or MCI, the group generally considered “cognitively healthy.”ĭata are from the Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal cohort study of aging that began in 1997 and is ongoing beginning in 2010, a decision making study was added. Although studies have shown that aspects of decision making are impaired among persons with dementia and MCI, these persons do not account for the widespread susceptibility of older persons to poor decision making and scams –. Further, older persons comprise the vast majority of fraud victims and are deprived of a substantial proportion of the more than 100 billion dollars lost annually to financial and health-related scams in the United States –. For reasons unknown, older persons are highly vulnerable to poor decision making and frequently make suboptimal financial and healthcare choices (e.g., take social security distributions early, fail to enroll in Medicare part D) –. Decision making is a complex behavior that requires higher order cognitive functions and is critical in aging, when some of life’s most influential decisions are made (e.g., intergenerational transfers of wealth, end of life healthcare decisions). ![]() In this study, we tested the hypothesis that poor decision making is a consequence of cognitive decline among older persons without AD or MCI. To date, however, the consequences of cognitive decline among persons without MCI or AD remain unknown. Thus, there is an urgent need to clarify the consequences of cognitive decline among persons without AD or MCI in order to identify those who may benefit most from early intervention. Older persons who exhibit cognitive decline but do not yet meet accepted criteria for MCI or AD may be most likely to benefit from early intervention and offer a unique opportunity to reduce the public health burden posed by AD. Further, accumulating AD pathology leads to cognitive decline that precedes the clinical diagnosis of AD and even its precursor, mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The recent reconceptualization of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) reflects increased awareness that the pathophysiologic changes of AD develop slowly over many years, even decades, before cognitive impairment becomes clinically evident. The funding agencies had no role in the design, conduct, or interpretation of the data or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This research was supported by National Institute on Aging Grants R01AG17917 (DAB), R01AG34374 (PAB), R01AG33678 (PAB), R21AG30765 (DAB), and the Illinois Department of Public Health. Received: MaAccepted: JPublished: August 20, 2012Ĭopyright: © Boyle et al. Oregon Health & Science University, United States of America Citation: Boyle PA, Yu L, Wilson RS, Gamble K, Buchman AS, Bennett DA (2012) Poor Decision Making Is a Consequence of Cognitive Decline among Older Persons without Alzheimer’s Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |