Exposure factors associated with dementia among older adults in Iceland: the AGES-Reykjavik study

The study aimed to assess whether factors related to cognitive performance were associated with the development of dementia. Additionally, the study aimed to establish whether cognitive performance at baseline or change in cognition between baseline and follow-up (five-year period) had a stronger association with whether an individual would fulfill a dementia criterion at follow-up. The data was collected from 2002 to 2011. Logistic regression was applied to the AGES-Reykjavik Study epidemiological data. The analysis, which builds upon previous data analyses of the same dataset, included 1,491 participants between the ages of 66 and 90. All those included were considered to have normal cognition at baseline; 8.2% (n = 123) of them fulfilled a dementia criterion at follow-up five years later. The study's results indicated that being high on cognitive reserve factors reduced the risk of developing dementia. Compared to other known dementia risk factors, cognitive reserve factors (education level, participation in leisure activities, and self-reported health) were more likely than others to have an association with dementia. Additionally, the study's findings showed that cognitive performance at baseline, rather than change in cognition between baseline and follow-up five years later, had a stronger association with dementia at the follow-up assessment. Together, these findings support the notion that promoting high cognitive reserve throughout the lifespan and reaching high cognitive performance is important in reducing dementia risk.