RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Are adverse childhood experiences associated with late-life cognitive performance across racial/ethnic groups: results from the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences study baseline
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e042125
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042125
VO 11
IS 2
A1 Audra L Gold
A1 Erika Meza
A1 Sarah F Ackley
A1 Dan M Mungas
A1 Rachel A Whitmer
A1 Elizabeth Rose Mayeda
A1 Sunita Miles
A1 Chloe W Eng
A1 Paola Gilsanz
A1 M Maria Glymour
YR 2021
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/2/e042125.abstract
AB Objectives Evidence on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and late-life cognitive outcomes is inconsistent, with little research among diverse racial/ethnic groups. We investigated whether ACE exposures were associated with worse late-life cognition for all racial/ethnic groups and at different ages of exposure.Design Covariate-adjusted mixed-effects linear regression models estimated associations of: (1) total number of ACEs experienced, (2) earliest age when ACE occurred and (3) type of ACE with overall cognition.Setting Kaiser Permanente Northern California members aged 65 years and older, living in Northern California.Participants Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences study baseline participants, aged 65 years and older (n=1661; including 403 Asian-American, 338 Latino, 427 Black and 493 white participants).Results Most respondents (69%) reported one or more ACE, most frequently family illness (36%), domestic violence (23%) and parental divorce (22%). ACE count was not adversely associated with cognition overall (β=0.01; 95% CI −0.01 to 0.03), in any racial/ethnic group or for any age category of exposure. Pooling across all race/ethnicities, parent’s remarriage (β=−0.11; 95% CI −0.20 to −0.03), mother’s death (β=−0.18; 95% CI −0.30 to −0.07) and father’s death (β=−0.11; 95% CI −0.20 to −0.01) were associated with worse cognition.Conclusion Adverse childhood exposures overall were not associated with worse cognition in older adults in a diverse sample, although three ACEs were associated with worse cognitive outcomes.