Publications by authors named "Mindy Katz"

People who are higher in conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness and lower in neuroticism tend to live longer. The present research tested the hypothesis that personality trait change in middle and older adulthood would also be associated with mortality risk, above and beyond personality trait level. Personality trait change may causally influence mortality risk through corresponding changes in health behaviors, social processes, and stress experience.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Research examining (MCI) criteria in diverse and/or health-disparate populations is limited. There is a critical need to investigate the predictive validity for incident dementia of widely used MCI definitions in diverse populations.

Method: Eligible participants were non-Hispanic White or Black Bronx community residents, free of dementia at enrollment, with at least one annual follow-up visit after baseline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Physical activity has immediate cognitive benefits, improving processing speed akin to reversing 4 years of cognitive aging.
  • The study involved a 9-day assessment where participants reported their daily physical activity and underwent cognitive testing.
  • Results showed that both light and vigorous activity boosted cognitive performance, particularly in those who were more active overall.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Poststroke cognitive impairment is common, but the exact changes in cognitive function following a first stroke compared to pre-stroke levels are not fully understood.
  • The study aimed to track cognitive performance over time in stroke survivors versus individuals without strokes, using data from 14 international cohorts of older adults.
  • Results showed that incident stroke led to a significant immediate drop in overall cognitive skills and accelerated decline in cognitive abilities over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) and depression affect cognitive function in older adults, aiming to understand their individual and combined impacts.
  • It harmonizes data from 14 international cohort studies and utilizes various scales to assess CMM and depression among participants who did not have dementia at the start of the study.
  • Findings include the analysis of over 30,000 older adults, revealing that both CMM and depression are linked to cognitive decline, with further validation through additional studies across different settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Previous studies suggest that using antihypertensive medication in older adults may lower the overall risk of dementia, but the effects on different types of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD), are still uncertain.
  • This research analyzed data from over 31,000 participants across multiple countries, focusing on how history of hypertension and blood pressure levels impact the risk of developing AD and non-AD types of dementia.
  • The findings indicated that untreated hypertension significantly increases the risk of developing AD and non-AD dementia compared to healthy individuals, while treated hypertension showed a similar risk for non-AD but not a significant difference between treated and untreated groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Although a growing body of literature documents the importance of neighborhood effects on late-life cognition, little is known about the relative strength of objective and subjective neighborhood measures on late-life cognitive changes. This study examined effects of objective and subjective neighborhood measures in three neighborhood domains (neighborhood safety, physical disorder, food environments) on longitudinal changes in processing speed, an early marker of cognitive aging and impairment.

Methods: The analysis sample included 306 community-dwelling older adults enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study (mean age = 77, age range = 70 to 91; female = 67.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The LIfestyle for BRAin Health (LIBRA) index yields a dementia risk score based on modifiable lifestyle factors and is validated in Western samples. We investigated whether the association between LIBRA scores and incident dementia is moderated by geographical location or sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: We combined data from 21 prospective cohorts across six continents (N = 31,680) and conducted cohort-specific Cox proportional hazard regression analyses in a two-step individual participant data meta-analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR) syndrome, a predementia syndrome characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait, may have an underlying vascular etiology. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine, a known vascular risk factor, have been linked to physical and cognitive decline in older adults, though the relationship with MCR is unknown. We aimed to identify the association between homocysteine and MCR risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The Cognitive Change Index (CCI) is a widely-used measure of self-perceived cognitive ability and change. Unfortunately, it is unclear if the CCI predicts future cognitive and clinical decline.

Objective: We evaluated baseline CCI to predict transition from normal cognition to cognitive impairment in nondemented older adults and in predementia groups including, subjective cognitive decline, motoric cognitive risk syndrome, and mild cognitive impairment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a predementia condition that combines slow gait speed and subjective cognitive concerns (SCC). The SCC criterion is presently unstandardized, possibly limiting risk detection. We sought to (a) characterize SCC practices through MCR literature review; (b) investigate the ability of SCC in slow gait individuals in predicting the likelihood of cognitive impairment in a demographically diverse sample of community-dwelling, nondemented older adults.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The role of subjective cognitive concerns (SCC) as a diagnostic criterion for MCI remains uncertain and limits the development of a universally (or widely)-accepted MCI definition. The optimal MCI definition should define an at-risk state and accurately predict the development of incident dementia. Questions remain about operationalization of definitions of self- and informant-reported SCCs and their individual and joint associations with incident dementia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The extent to which the Big Five personality traits and subjective well-being (SWB) are discriminatory predictors of clinical manifestation of dementia versus dementia-related neuropathology is unclear.

Methods: Using data from eight independent studies (N = 44,531; N = 1703; baseline M = 49 to 81 years, 26 to 61% female; M range = 3.53 to 21.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: The utility of antihypertensives and ideal blood pressure (BP) for dementia prevention in late life remains unclear and highly contested.

Objectives: To assess the associations of hypertension history, antihypertensive use, and baseline measured BP in late life (age >60 years) with dementia and the moderating factors of age, sex, and racial group.

Data Source And Study Selection: Longitudinal, population-based studies of aging participating in the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) group were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Limited research has focused on the association between inflammatory markers and features of subjective cognitive functioning among older adults. The present work examined links between inflammation and a specific subjective cognitive report: prospective memory (PM), or our memory for future intentions, such as attending an appointment or taking medication.

Method: We assessed self-reported PM lapses using a two-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) diary protocol via smartphone as well as levels of blood-based inflammation among 231 dementia-free older adults (70-90 years, 66% women) enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study addresses the issue of limited ancestral diversity in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which makes it hard to find genetic risk variants in non-European ancestry groups, focusing on Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
  • - Researchers analyzed a multi-ancestry GWAS dataset within the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) involving individuals from various ancestries, identifying 13 shared risk loci and 3 ancestry-specific loci, highlighting the benefits of diverse samples.
  • - The findings underscore the importance of including underrepresented populations in genetic research, suggesting that even smaller sample sizes can lead to the discovery of novel genetic variants related to AD and implicating specific biological pathways like amyloid regulation and neuronal development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study addresses the challenges of comparing self-perceived cognitive functioning across various aging studies by linking item-level data from international research.
  • The researchers harmonized data from 24 different studies and found that certain items related to memory and executive functions provided the best measurement precision.
  • This work allows for better comparison and analysis of cognitive functioning in older adults globally, potentially paving the way for improved self-report questionnaires based on the identified key items.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: . Although prior studies have examined the associations between neighborhood characteristics and cognitive health, little is known about whether local food environments, which are critical for individuals' daily living, are associated with late-life cognition. Further, little is known about how local environments may shape individuals' health-related behaviors and impact cognitive health.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: We investigated the utility of the Telephone-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA) to track cognition in a diverse sample from the Einstein Aging Study.

Methods: Telephone and in-person MoCA data, collected annually, were used to evaluate longitudinal cognitive performance. Joint models of T-MoCA and in-person MoCA compared changes, variance, and test-retest reliability measured by intraclass correlation coefficient by racial/ethnic group.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Sex differences in dementia risk, and risk factor (RF) associations with dementia, remain uncertain across diverse ethno-regional groups.

Methods: A total of 29,850 participants (58% women) from 21 cohorts across six continents were included in an individual participant data meta-analysis. Sex-specific hazard ratios (HRs), and women-to-men ratio of hazard ratios (RHRs) for associations between RFs and all-cause dementia were derived from mixed-effect Cox models.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Episodic memory loss, a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer's Disease, is frequently quantified by story memory performance. The National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set Neuropsychological Battery (UDSNB) replaced Logical Memory with Craft Story 21 in UDSNB Version 3. The concordance between these story memory tasks is poorly characterized in demographically diverse older adults, possibly jeopardizing the integrity of longitudinal data in aging cohorts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that healthy dietary patterns are associated with higher cognitive status; however, few clinical trials have explored this association in diverse middle-aged adults before the onset of cognitive decline. We use novel ambulatory methods to assess cognition in natural settings in tandem with diet recording.

Aims: We investigate whether the Multicultural Healthy Diet Study to Reduce Cognitive Decline & Alzheimer's Disease Risk, a pilot randomized controlled trial of an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern compared to usual diet, can mitigate cognitive decline and Alzheimer's Disease risk in a diverse population of 40-65 year old adults in Bronx, New York.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Monitoring early changes in cognitive performance is useful for studying cognitive aging as well as for detecting early markers of neurodegenerative diseases. Repeated evaluation of cognition via a measurement burst design can accomplish this goal. In such design participants complete brief evaluations of cognition, multiple times per day for several days, and ideally, repeat the process once or twice a year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - COVID-19 has led to over 3.5 million deaths and more than 160 million infections, with many individuals experiencing neurological issues, including loss of smell, seizures, and strokes, which can lead to long-term cognitive and neuropsychiatric problems regardless of the severity of respiratory symptoms.
  • - The article explores potential links between COVID-19 and neurological symptoms, particularly focusing on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, while examining factors like inflammation and viral mechanisms that may cause such issues.
  • - A global research effort, the CNS SC2 consortium, is underway to standardize methods for studying the long-term effects of COVID-19 on brain health, with data collection occurring across multiple countries to improve overall understanding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: To evaluate whether diabetes and prediabetes are associated with impaired cognitive performance among older adults and examine depressive symptoms as a mediator.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the Einstein Aging Study, a systematically recruited, community-based cohort study of diverse older adults (N = 794; Age Mean (SD) = 78.9 (5.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF