Mild cognitive impairment in older adults: the role of cognitive reserve and resilience

Bess Yin-Hung LAM, Daniel W.L. LAI, Jessica LI, Zhi ZOU, Che Hin Chetwyn CHAN

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

Abstract

Background: Positive ageing amid of age-related neurodegeneration is a global challenge. The present study examined whether psychological resilience can be a protective factor among older adults.

Methods: The participants were 233 community-dwelling older individuals with or without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). They completed testing on resilience and the cognitive reserve proxies. Hierarchical logistic regression was conducted to test the hypotheses of the present study.

Results: After controlling for age and the cognitive reserve proxies, resilience (b= -0.38) and resilience × visuospatial function significantly predicted MCI group membership (ps < 0.05). There are two new findings. First, higher level of resilience in addition to the conventional cognitive reserve proxies predicted lower MCI risks. Second, MCI participants with higher level of resilience had significantly higher visuospatial ability than their lower level counterparts.

Conclusions: These findings raise the question of whether resilience should be considered as a cognitive reserve proxy. It also calls for future research to enhance the level of resilience in older adults for healthy ageing. Copyright © 2020 Author(s).
Original languageEnglish
JournalResearch Square
Early online dateJun 2020
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - Jun 2020

Citation

Lam, B. Y.-H., Lai, D. W. L., Li, J., Zou, Z., & Chan, C. C. H. (2020). Mild cognitive impairment in older adults: the role of cognitive reserve and resilience. Research Square. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-29135/v1

Keywords

  • Mild cognitive impairment
  • Resilience
  • Cognitive reserve
  • Age-related neurodegeneration

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