The cognitive reserve theory states that individuals with more educational, occupational, and cognitive engagement are more resilient to damage to their brain, delaying the presentation of symptoms of dementia. Educational attainment is also strongly associated with cognitive reserve. Īmong minority populations, educational attainment is a particularly important risk factor for dementia individuals with fewer years of formal education have a greater risk for developing dementia,. This is a timely topic because the number of racial/ethnic minority group members has increased and will continue to increase in the United States. Measurement bias in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and other screening tools might inflate rates among minorities. Racial/ethnic minorities are disproportionately at risk for dementia African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to develop AD and other dementias than their non-Hispanic White counterparts, likely because of differences in underlying risk factors,. By diagnosing MCI, health care professionals can act to control cardiovascular risk factors, increase exercise, and initiate cognitive training interventions that may reduce progression from MCI to AD. MCI can be used for early detection and prevention of progression to dementia. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the stage between healthy cognitive aging and dementia, is defined as greater cognitive impairment than is expected for one's age. Risk factors for AD include nonmodifiable factors, such as older age, family history, and the presence of the apolipoprotein E ( APOE)-ε4 gene, and potentially modifiable risk factors, including low educational attainment, low socioeconomic status, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, depression, and low social and cognitive engagement. This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, affected approximately 5.5 million Americans in 2017 this number is projected to increase to as high as 16 million by 2050. We would, therefore, recommend conducting cognitive testing by re-scoring the test without the visual components (as in the MoCA Blind), magnifying the visual components to make them more visible, or replacing the visual components with auditory substitutes (e.g., auditory tail-making and clock tasks). Our findings show a simulated reduction in visual acuity can lead to lower cognitive scores, but that older adults that have a real impairment may have developed an adaptation to this loss of acuity. For comparison, we included MoCA data from a sample of older adults with normal vision (n=19, M age=74, Acuity M=.04 logMAR, SD=.16) or visual impairment (n=19, M age=79, Acuity M=.35 logMAR, SD=.3).Īcuity of participants at 20/20 (M=.06 LogMAR, SD=.1), simulated 20/80 (M=.63, SD.18) and simulated 20/200 (M=.88, SD=.19) showed that the participants experienced simulated acuity loss with the goggles. Only participants that scored >26 (i.e., normal cognitive function) at 20/20 were included in the analysis. The MoCA was administered following the clinical protocols. Participants (19) viewed one of the three version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) under three conditions (20/20, simulated 20/80, simulated 20/200). Therefore, we simulated reduced acuity in adults to determine how this impacts cognitive screening measure. But, we do not know if lower scores are due to the assessments relying on visual stimuli, or if individuals with visual impairments are actually more likely to have cognitive impairments. Cognitive scores of adults with visual impairments are typically lower than adults with normal vision. Cognitive assessments have visual components that assume intact sensory ability, however, adults may show a decline in visual acuity with increasing age.
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