TY - JOUR
T1 - Memory complaints and depressive symptoms over time
T2 - A construct-level replication analysis
AU - Mogle, Jacqueline
AU - Hill, Nikki L.
AU - Bhargava, Sakshi
AU - Bell, Tyler Reed
AU - Bhang, Iris
N1 - Funding Information:
The study samples were drawn from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). NHATS employs a longitudinal design, has a nationally representative sample of adults age 65 and older who are Medicare beneficiaries in the United States, and oversamples Black older adults and individuals at older ages [18]. The study began in 2011 and is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and led by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Face-to-face interviews are conducted annually and collect data on topics such as physical and cognitive capacity and participation in valued activities. HRS is a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of adults older than 50 in the United States, with an oversampling of Blacks and Hispanics [19]. HRS is funded by NIA and is led by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Started in 1992, HRS collects participants’ data biennially in mainly face-to-face or telephone interviews. The four main types of data are: income and wealth; health, cognition, and use of healthcare services; work and retirement; and family connections. Both NHATS and HRS undergo periodic cohort replenishment.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AG055398. The funder had no role in the study design, data analysis, interpretation of data, or writing the manuscript. The current study uses secondary data from two NIA-funded studies: HRS (grant number U01AG009740) and NHATS (grant number U01AG032947).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/3/2
Y1 - 2020/3/2
N2 - Background: Memory complaints and depressive symptoms are frequently associated in older adults and both serve as potential indicators of future cognitive decline. However, the temporal ordering of the development of these two symptoms remains unclear. The goal of the current study was to examine concurrent and temporal relationships between memory complaints and depressive symptoms in older adults. Methods: Data were drawn from two longitudinal, nationally representative datasets and included cognitively intact older adults aged 65 and over. The datasets in the current study were from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Using an integrative analytic framework, we tested bidirectional temporal relationships between memory complaints (memory ratings and perceived memory decline) and depressive symptoms over 6 to 9 years of data in over 5000 older adults across these two samples. Results: Across both datasets, perceived memory decline predicted future depressive symptoms whereas memory ratings did not. Additionally, results showed that at times when depressive symptoms tended to be higher, memory complaints were also higher, but depressive symptoms did not predict future memory complaints. One finding that was inconsistent across datasets was memory ratings predicting depressive symptoms. After accounting for covariates, this relationship was only significant in one dataset. Conclusions: Cognitively intact older adults who report memory decline may be at risk for developing depressive symptoms in the future. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of using immediate replication of results across datasets to determine the generalizability of conclusions.
AB - Background: Memory complaints and depressive symptoms are frequently associated in older adults and both serve as potential indicators of future cognitive decline. However, the temporal ordering of the development of these two symptoms remains unclear. The goal of the current study was to examine concurrent and temporal relationships between memory complaints and depressive symptoms in older adults. Methods: Data were drawn from two longitudinal, nationally representative datasets and included cognitively intact older adults aged 65 and over. The datasets in the current study were from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Using an integrative analytic framework, we tested bidirectional temporal relationships between memory complaints (memory ratings and perceived memory decline) and depressive symptoms over 6 to 9 years of data in over 5000 older adults across these two samples. Results: Across both datasets, perceived memory decline predicted future depressive symptoms whereas memory ratings did not. Additionally, results showed that at times when depressive symptoms tended to be higher, memory complaints were also higher, but depressive symptoms did not predict future memory complaints. One finding that was inconsistent across datasets was memory ratings predicting depressive symptoms. After accounting for covariates, this relationship was only significant in one dataset. Conclusions: Cognitively intact older adults who report memory decline may be at risk for developing depressive symptoms in the future. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of using immediate replication of results across datasets to determine the generalizability of conclusions.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12877-020-1451-1
DO - 10.1186/s12877-020-1451-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 32114980
AN - SCOPUS:85080839963
VL - 20
JO - BMC Geriatrics
JF - BMC Geriatrics
SN - 1471-2318
IS - 1
M1 - 57
ER -