Study Data from Rush University Medical Center Provide New Insights into Alzheimer Disease (Financial and Health Literacy Predict Incident…

Study Data from Rush University Medical Center Provide New Insights into Alzheimer Disease (Financial and Health Literacy Predict Incident Alzheimer's Disease Dementia and Pathology)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Mental Health Weekly Digest -- New research on Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions - Alzheimer Disease is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Chicago, Illinois, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Domain specific literacy is a multidimensional construct that requires multiple resources including cognitive and non-cognitive factors. We test the hypothesis that domain specific literacy is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia and AD pathology after controlling for cognition."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Rush University Medical Center, "Participants were community-based older persons who completed a baseline literacy assessment, underwent annual clinical evaluations for up to 8 years, and agreed to organ donation after death. Financial and health literacy was measured using 32 questions and cognition was measured using 19 tests. Annual diagnosis of AD dementia followed standard criteria. AD pathology was examined postmortem by quantifying plaques and tangles. Cox models examined the association of literacy with incident AD dementia. Performance of model prediction for incident AD dementia was assessed using indices for integrated discrimination improvement and continuous net reclassification improvement. Linear regression models examined the independent association of literacy with AD pathology in autopsied participants. All 805 participants were free of dementia at baseline and 102 (12.7%) developed AD dementia during the follow-up. Lower literacy was associated with higher risk for incident AD dementia (p <0.001), and the association persisted after controlling for cognition (hazard ratio=1.50, p=0.004). The model including the literacy measure had better predictive performance than the one with demographics and cognition only. Lower literacy also was associated with higher burden of AD pathology after controlling for cognition (b=0.07, p=0.035)."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Literacy predicts incident AD dementia and AD pathology in community-dwelling older persons, and the association is independent of traditional measures of cognition."

For more information on this research see: Financial and Health Literacy Predict Incident Alzheimer's Disease Dementia and Pathology. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2017;():. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease can be contacted at: IOS Press, Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 BG Amsterdam, The Netherlands (see also Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions - Alzheimer Disease).

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from L. Yu, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States. Additional authors for this research include R.S. Wilson, J.A. Schneider, D.A. Bennett and P.A Boyle.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease is: IOS Press, Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 BG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Keywords for this news article include: Chicago, Illinois, Dementia, Pathology, Tauopathies, Epidemiology, United States, Alzheimer Disease, Investment and Finance, North and Central America, Brain Diseases and Conditions, Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions, Central Nervous System Diseases and Conditions.

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