Longitudinal Relationship of Leisure Activity Engagement With Cognitive Performance Among Non-Demented, Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Nicole M Armstrong; Sarah E Tom; Amal Harrati; Kaitlin Casaletto; Judy Pa; Miguel Arce Rentería; Yian Gu; Kumar B Rajan; Nicole Schupf; Robert Fieo; Jennifer Weuve; Eleanor M Simonsick; Jennifer J Manly; Yaakov Stern; Laura B Zahodne

doi:10.1093/geront/gnab046

Longitudinal Relationship of Leisure Activity Engagement With Cognitive Performance Among Non-Demented, Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Gerontologist. 2022 Mar 28;62(3):352-363. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnab046.

Authors

Nicole M Armstrong^{1

2}, Sarah E Tom³, Amal Harrati⁴, Kaitlin Casaletto⁵, Judy Pa⁶, Miguel Arce Rentería⁷, Yian Gu⁷, Kumar B Rajan⁸, Nicole Schupf⁷, Robert Fieo^{6

9}, Jennifer Weuve¹⁰, Eleanor M Simonsick², Jennifer J Manly⁷, Yaakov Stern⁷, Laura B Zahodne¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
² Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
³ Department of Neurology and Epidemiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
⁴ Department of Primary Care and Population Health, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, California, USA.
⁵ Memory and Aging Center, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁶ Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁷ Cognitive Neuroscience Division and the Taub Institute, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
⁸ Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Davis, California, USA.
⁹ US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
¹¹ Department of Psychology and Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Leisure activity engagement (LAE) may reduce the risk of incident dementia. However, cognitive performance may predict LAE change. We evaluated the temporal ordering of overall and subtypes of LAE (intellectual, physical, and social) and cognitive performance (global, language, memory, and visuospatial function) among non-demented older adults.

Research design and methods: The Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project concurrently administered a survey measure of 13 leisure activities and a neuropsychological battery every 18-24 months for up to 14 years to 5,384 racially and ethnically diverse participants. We used parallel process conditional latent growth curve models to examine temporal ordering in the overall sample and within baseline diagnostic groups (mild cognitive impairment [MCI] vs. cognitively normal).

Results: Levels and changes of overall and subtypes of LAE were positively correlated with cognitive performance in the overall sample and within each diagnostic group. In the overall sample, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in social LAE (estimate = 0.019, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.001-0.037). Among MCI, higher initial physical LAE was associated with slower declines in memory (estimate = 0.034, 95% CI: 0.001-0.067), but higher initial intellectual LAE was related to steeper declines in visuospatial function (estimate = -0.028, 95% CI: -0.052 to -0.004). Among cognitively normal, higher initial memory was associated with slower declines in intellectual LAE (estimate = 0.012, 95% CI: 0.002-0.022).

Discussion and implications: Dynamic interplay of LAE with cognitive performance was observed across diagnostic groups. Levels of LAE subtypes could be more predictive of change in certain cognitive domains within older adults with MCI.

Keywords: Cognitive aging; Intellectual activity engagement; Mild cognitive impairment; Physical activity engagement; Social activity engagement.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America 2021.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cognition
Cognitive Dysfunction* / diagnosis
Humans
Independent Living*
Leisure Activities
Longitudinal Studies

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding