Sociology Commons^™

Living Alone During Old Age And The Risk Of Dementia: Assessing The Cumulative Risk Of Living Alone, Benjamin A. Shaw, Tse-Chuan Yang, Seulki Kim

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study examines the association between living alone during old age and dementia. Whereas most previous studies on this topic utilize measures of living alone status that were obtained at a single point in time, we compare this typical approach to one that measures long-term exposure to living alone among older adults and assesses whether dementia is more likely to occur within individuals with more accumulated time living alone. Methods: Data come from the Health and Retirement Study, with a follow-up period of 2000–2018. A total of 18,171 older adults were followed during this period, resulting in 78,490 person-waves …

Racial/Ethnic And Nativity Differences In Cognitive Life Expectancies Among Older Adults In The United States, Marc A. Garcia, Brian Downer, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Joseph L. Saenz, Sunshine Rote, Rebeca Wong

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: To document racial/ethnic and nativity differences by gender in cognitive life expectancies among older adults in the United States.

Research Design and Methods: Sullivan-based life tables were used to estimate cognitively normal, cognitively impaired/ no dementia (CIND), and dementia life expectancies by gender for White, Black, U.S.-born Hispanic, and foreign-born Hispanic adults 50 years and older in the Health and Retirement Study.

Results: Among women, the number of years spent living with dementia for Whites, Blacks, U.S.-born Hispanics, and foreign-born Hispanics was 1.6, 3.9, 4.7, and 6.0 years, respectively. For men, Whites lived 1.1 years with dementia …

Cohort Differences In Cognitive Impairment And Cognitive Decline Among Mexican-Americans Aged 75 Years Or Older, Brian Downer, Marc A. Garcia, Mukaila Raji, Kyriakos S. Markides

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Research suggests that the prevalence and incidence of cognitive impairment among older adults is decreasing. This analysis used data from 9 waves (1993–2016) of the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to assess cognitive status and cognitive decline for 2 cohorts of Mexican-Americans aged ≥75 years in 1993–1994 versus 2004–2005. Logistic regression, joint longitudinal survival models, and illness-death models for interval-censored data were used to examine cohort differences in the odds of prevalent cognitive impairment, trajectories of cognitive decline, and the risk of 10-year incident cognitive impairment, respectively. Results indicated that compared with the 1993–1994 cohort, …