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Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether stability and change in cognitive status are associated with sociodemographic characteristics and health function., Design: Secondary analysis of data., Setting: Baltimore Study of Black Aging-Patterns of Cognitive Aging., Participants: Community-dwelling black adults (N = 407; mean age 68.6 ± 9.1)., Measurements: Baseline (n = 602) and 33-month follow-up (n = 450) assessments of cognition, health, and psychosocial function., Results: For the present analyses, participants were grouped as being cognitively normal (n = 249), having stable mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 32), or being MCI converters (n = 72; normal at baseline, MCI at follow-up) or reverters (n = 54; MCI at baseline, normal at follow-up). Multivariate analysis of variance showed that the groups differed significantly in education and lung function (P < .010). Post hoc analyses indicated that converters had fewer years of education than the other groups, whereas those who were cognitively normal had better lung function than converters and reverters (P < .050)., Conclusion: These results suggest that education and lung health are associated with patterns of cognitive status change and stability. Future research should account for sociodemographic and health factors when examining stability of cognitive status classifications., (© 2017, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2017, The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objectives: To examine the relationship between erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and cognitive performance over time., Design: Longitudinal., Setting: Sample from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA)., Participants: Eight hundred twenty-seven participants from the BLSA (mean age 67, range 50-96)., Measurements: Mean corpuscular volume and several other blood indices were measured, including hemoglobin, iron, ferritin, vitamin B12, folate, white blood cell count, albumin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Cognitive performance was examined using neuropsychological measures of visual memory, verbal memory, language, attention, executive function, and global mental status., Results: High MCV levels were significantly associated with lower global mental status even after adjusting for potential confounders. High MCV levels were also significantly associated with high rates of decline on tasks of global mental status, long delay memory, and attention, even after adjusting for potential confounders., Conclusion: The findings confirm a previous observation that larger erythrocytes in older adults are associated with poorer cognitive function. Anemia and inflammation do not appear to explain the relationship between MCV and cognition. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms behind this association., (© 2012, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2012, The American Geriatrics Society.)