{"title":"Differential Impact of Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline in Heterosexual and Sexual Minority Older Adults in England.","authors":"Riccardo Manca, Jason D Flatt, Annalena Venneri","doi":"10.3390/brainsci15010090","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/objectives: </strong>Sexual minority older adults (SMOAs) report greater subjective cognitive decline (SCD) than heterosexual older adults (HOAs). This study aimed to compare the impact of multiple psycho-social risk factors on objective and subjective cognitive decline in HOAs and SMOAs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Two samples of self-identified HOAs and SMOAs were selected from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Reliable change indices for episodic and semantic memory were created to assess cognitive decline. SCD was self-reported for memory and general cognition. Depressive symptoms, loneliness, marital status and socio-economic status were investigated as risk factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>No between-group differences were found in cognitive decline. Higher depression was associated with greater SCD risk and worse semantic memory decline. The latter effect was stronger in SMOAs. The findings were largely replicated in the sensitivity analysis.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Poor mental health may represent the strongest driver of cognitive decline in SMOAs and to a greater extent than in HOAs.</p>","PeriodicalId":9095,"journal":{"name":"Brain Sciences","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11764127/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Brain Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15010090","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background/objectives: Sexual minority older adults (SMOAs) report greater subjective cognitive decline (SCD) than heterosexual older adults (HOAs). This study aimed to compare the impact of multiple psycho-social risk factors on objective and subjective cognitive decline in HOAs and SMOAs.
Methods: Two samples of self-identified HOAs and SMOAs were selected from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Reliable change indices for episodic and semantic memory were created to assess cognitive decline. SCD was self-reported for memory and general cognition. Depressive symptoms, loneliness, marital status and socio-economic status were investigated as risk factors.
Results: No between-group differences were found in cognitive decline. Higher depression was associated with greater SCD risk and worse semantic memory decline. The latter effect was stronger in SMOAs. The findings were largely replicated in the sensitivity analysis.
Conclusions: Poor mental health may represent the strongest driver of cognitive decline in SMOAs and to a greater extent than in HOAs.
期刊介绍:
Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles, critical reviews, research notes and short communications in the areas of cognitive neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, molecular and cellular neuroscience, neural engineering, neuroimaging, neurolinguistics, neuropathy, systems neuroscience, and theoretical and computational neuroscience. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. The full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. Electronic files or software regarding the full details of the calculation and experimental procedure, if unable to be published in a normal way, can be deposited as supplementary material.