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Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons

BACKGROUND: Emerging data from younger and middle-aged persons suggest that cognitive ability is negatively associated with risk aversion, but this association has not been studied among older persons who are at high risk of experiencing loss of cognitive function. METHODS: Using data from 369 commu...

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Autores principales: Boyle, Patricia A, Yu, Lei, Buchman, Aron S, Laibson, David I, Bennett, David A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21906402
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-11-53
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author Boyle, Patricia A
Yu, Lei
Buchman, Aron S
Laibson, David I
Bennett, David A
author_facet Boyle, Patricia A
Yu, Lei
Buchman, Aron S
Laibson, David I
Bennett, David A
author_sort Boyle, Patricia A
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Emerging data from younger and middle-aged persons suggest that cognitive ability is negatively associated with risk aversion, but this association has not been studied among older persons who are at high risk of experiencing loss of cognitive function. METHODS: Using data from 369 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging, we examined the correlates of risk aversion and tested the hypothesis that cognition is negatively associated with risk aversion. Global cognition and five specific cognitive abilities were measured via detailed cognitive testing, and risk aversion was measured using standard behavioral economics questions in which participants were asked to choose between a certain monetary payment ($15) versus a gamble in which they could gain more than $15 or gain nothing; potential gamble gains ranged from $21.79 to $151.19 with the gain amounts varied randomly over questions. We first examined the bivariate associations of age, education, sex, income and cognition with risk aversion. Next, we examined the associations between cognition and risk aversion via mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, and income. Finally, we conducted sensitivity analyses to ensure that our results were not driven by persons with preclinical cognitive impairment. RESULTS: In bivariate analyses, sex, education, income and global cognition were associated with risk aversion. However, in a mixed effect model, only sex (estimate = -1.49, standard error (SE) = 0.39, p < 0.001) and global cognitive function (estimate = -1.05, standard error (SE) = 0.34, p < 0.003) were significantly inversely associated with risk aversion. Thus, a lower level of global cognitive function and female sex were associated with greater risk aversion. Moreover, performance on four out of the five cognitive domains was negatively related to risk aversion (i.e., semantic memory, episodic memory, working memory, and perceptual speed); performance on visuospatial abilities was not. CONCLUSION: A lower level of cognitive ability and female sex are associated with greater risk aversion in advanced age.
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spelling pubmed-31821322011-09-29 Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons Boyle, Patricia A Yu, Lei Buchman, Aron S Laibson, David I Bennett, David A BMC Geriatr Research Article BACKGROUND: Emerging data from younger and middle-aged persons suggest that cognitive ability is negatively associated with risk aversion, but this association has not been studied among older persons who are at high risk of experiencing loss of cognitive function. METHODS: Using data from 369 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal epidemiologic study of aging, we examined the correlates of risk aversion and tested the hypothesis that cognition is negatively associated with risk aversion. Global cognition and five specific cognitive abilities were measured via detailed cognitive testing, and risk aversion was measured using standard behavioral economics questions in which participants were asked to choose between a certain monetary payment ($15) versus a gamble in which they could gain more than $15 or gain nothing; potential gamble gains ranged from $21.79 to $151.19 with the gain amounts varied randomly over questions. We first examined the bivariate associations of age, education, sex, income and cognition with risk aversion. Next, we examined the associations between cognition and risk aversion via mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, and income. Finally, we conducted sensitivity analyses to ensure that our results were not driven by persons with preclinical cognitive impairment. RESULTS: In bivariate analyses, sex, education, income and global cognition were associated with risk aversion. However, in a mixed effect model, only sex (estimate = -1.49, standard error (SE) = 0.39, p < 0.001) and global cognitive function (estimate = -1.05, standard error (SE) = 0.34, p < 0.003) were significantly inversely associated with risk aversion. Thus, a lower level of global cognitive function and female sex were associated with greater risk aversion. Moreover, performance on four out of the five cognitive domains was negatively related to risk aversion (i.e., semantic memory, episodic memory, working memory, and perceptual speed); performance on visuospatial abilities was not. CONCLUSION: A lower level of cognitive ability and female sex are associated with greater risk aversion in advanced age. BioMed Central 2011-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3182132/ /pubmed/21906402 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-11-53 Text en Copyright ©2011 Boyle et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Boyle, Patricia A
Yu, Lei
Buchman, Aron S
Laibson, David I
Bennett, David A
Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title_full Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title_fullStr Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title_full_unstemmed Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title_short Cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
title_sort cognitive function is associated with risk aversion in community-based older persons
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182132/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21906402
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-11-53
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