Approaching the comprehension of cognition in the old ageStudy of its associated factors from a gender perspective

Resumen

Among the 10 global causes of death, the World Health Organisation ranks dementia seventh worldwide, and second in high-income countries. Apart from the economic implications of dementia, cognitive impairment in general poses a barrier to the quality of life of people with dementia. Lifestyle interventions can be an effective strategy to postpone the onset of dementia. Living a greater number of years without dementia would mean an increase in the healthy life expectancy of the population. Given that dementia is the last stage of cognitive decline and that dementia is normative to the ageing process, an alternative is to study cognitive ageing in general. Delaying normative ageing at the cognitive level could be largely beneficial for the whole chain process of cognitive decline. To meet each of the proposed general objectives of this doctoral dissertation, several statistical techniques were employed using data from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). SHARE is a unique research infrastructure containing longitudinal information on health, socio-economic data, environment and social networks of both European and Israeli citizens aged 50 and older. The main purpose of this doctoral thesis has been to establish a holistic framework for the study of cognition in later life and its implications for the successful ageing of older adults. Throughout this work we have used the theoretical framework offered by the Comprehensive PCP model. Overall, the results of this work support previous evidence on the importance of key factors for the maintenance of cognitive ability, differentiating between recent memory, delayed memory and verbal fluency. In addition, the results also provide evidence for the Comprehensive PCP model and the effect of cognition, as an age-related stressor, on successful ageing outcomes in older adults.