Search

Background: Recent evidence from cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies supports the hypothesis that sarcopenia is associated with worsening cognitive function. However, primary evidence largely comes from high‐income countries, whereas in low‐ and middle‐income countries, this association has been underexplored. This study aimed to estimate the longitudinal association between sarcopenia and mild cognitive impairment in a sample of older Mexican adults. Methods: Data come from the three waves of the World Health Organization (WHO) Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) in Mexico (2009, 2014, 2017). Four hundred ninety‐six older adults, aged ≥50, were included. Sarcopenia was defined as having low muscle quantity and either/both slow gait speed and weak handgrip strength. Mild cognitive impairment was determined based on the recommendations of the National Institute on Aging‐Alzheimer's Association. Cognitive function was evaluated by a composite cognitive score of five different cognitive tests: immediate and delayed recall, forward and backward digit span and semantic verbal fluency. Three‐level mixed‐effects models (logistic and linear) were used to estimate the longitudinal associations between sarcopenia, mild cognitive impairment and cognitive function. Results: The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (8.9%, 12.9%, 16.0%) and sarcopenia (10.5%, 20.7%, 23.3%) showed a significant temporal increase for Waves 1, 2 and 3 (P‐value < 0.01, respectively). The presence of sarcopenia was significantly associated with mild cognitive impairment (OR = 1.74; CI95% 1.02, 2.96; P = 0.04) and worse cognitive function (β = −0.57; CI95% ‐0.93, −0.21; P < 0.01). We observed significant associations between sarcopenia and immediate verbal recall (β = −0.14; CI95% −0.28, −0.01; P = 0.04), delayed verbal recall (β = −0.12; CI95% −0.23, −0.01; P = 0.03) and semantic verbal fluency (β = −0.17; CI95% −0.28, −0.05; P = 0.01). The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment increased at an annual rate of 0.8% for non‐sarcopenic older adults, but nearly 1.5% for sarcopenic adults. Conclusions: Significant longitudinal associations were observed between sarcopenia, mild cognitive impairment and cognitive function among older Mexican adults. Public health strategies, including policy research and clinical interventions, must be implemented in low‐ and middle‐income countries in order to reduce or delay the onset of sarcopenia and thus improve population‐level cognitive health among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We examined the influence of acculturation on Generation Z (i.e., persons born between 1997–2004) adults' cognition. Methods: The sample consisted of 15 low-acculturated, 47 moderately-acculturated, and 28 high-acculturated Mexican participants residing in Mexico with a mean age of 20.86 (SD = 1.63). All participants completed the Word Accentuation Test, all the subtests of the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), Boston Naming Test, Phonemic Fluency Test (i.e., FAS), Semantic Fluency Test, the copy and long-delayed Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) tasks, all the subtests of the Digit Span, and the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS) in Spanish. The AMAS was used to categorize acculturation groups. ANOVA's were used to evaluate neuropsychological performance between our acculturation groups. Results: We found the low-acculturation and moderately acculturation groups outperformed the high-acculturation group on the SCWT reading and color-word tasks, p's < 0.05, np's2 = 0.09–0.10. Results also revealed the high-acculturation group outperformed the low-acculturation and moderately acculturation groups on the Semantic Fluency Test, p = 0.002, np2 = 0.14. Finally, the low-acculturation group outperformed the high-acculturation group on the ROCF copy task, p = 0.042, np2 = 0.07. Conclusions: Our data suggests that Generation Z Mexicans' level of acculturation influences their cognition. A possible explanation can be time perspective, where perception of time is influencing cognition to select and pursue certain goals, cognition, and motivation. Future studies using larger sample sizes should investigate the intersection of time perspective and acculturation on Generation Z adults' cognition. More research that evaluates how acculturation influences cognition will help researchers and clinicians understand Spanish speakers' cognition from a generational cohort perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the present study was to cross-validate recent research on three embedded performance validity tests (PVTs) in a Spanish-speaking Mexican sample. Method: The sample consisted of 52 male and 77 female participants residing in Mexico with a mean age of 25.26 (SD = 10.45). Participants were neurologically and psychologically healthy and completed a neuropsychological battery in Spanish. The Reliable Digit Span, Phonemic Fluency Test (i.e., FAS), and Semantic Fluency Tests were used to evaluate failure rates in our sample. Daugherty and colleagues' (2022) PVT cutoff scores were used. Chi-square analysis was used to evaluate failure rates between the groups. Results: Chi-square analysis revealed no significant failure rate differences between gender groups on any PVTs. However, we found that 12% of the male group failed the Phonemic Fluency Test compared to 5% of the female group, X2 = 1.747, p = 0.186. Meanwhile, 2% of the male group failed the Semantic Fluency Test compared to 0% of the female group, X2 = 1.492, p = 0.222. Finally, 6% of the male group failed the Reliable Digit Span compared to 17% of the female group, X2 = 3.529, p = 0.060. Conclusions: Our data shows that male participants demonstrate higher failure rates on verbal fluency tasks than females. Moreover, males had lower failure rates compared to females on Reliable Digit Span. Further exploration with bigger sample sizes is needed to explore what may be influencing validity test performance between gender groups. More studies in this area will help researchers and clinicians determine if persons completing cognitive tasks in Spanish are proving adequate effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We evaluated the influence of depression on cognition in a healthy Mexican Spanish speaking population. Methods: The sample consisted of 41 Mexican adolescents all residing in Mexico with a mean age of 18.59 (SD = 0.50). They were divided into two depression groups: normal symptoms of depression (NSD; n = 26) and abnormal symptoms of depression (ASD; n = 15). Participants completed the Word Accentuation Test, all the subtests of the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), Boston Naming Test, Phonemic Fluency Test (i.e., FAS), Semantic Fluency Test, Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure, and all the subtests of the Digit Span in Spanish. Additionally, participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in Spanish to report their current level of depression. Independent Sample T-tests were used to examine cognition performance. We used a threshold of p < 0.05 for statistical significance. Results: Results revealed the NSD group outperformed the ASD group on the SCWT-Color, Phonemic Fluency Test, Semantic Fluency Test, Boston Naming Test, and Digit Span backwards tasks, p's < 0.05. Conclusions: As expected, the NSD group demonstrated better cognitive abilities compared to the ASD group. Our data suggests that the current level of depression had a significant influence on cognitive abilities in an adolescent Spanish speaking population. Future studies with larger sample size should evaluate if current symptoms of depression influence non-verbal cognitive abilities in a Spanish speaking Mexican population. More research that evaluates both verbal and non-verbal abilities will help researchers and clinicians determine if current level of depression influences Spanish speaking adolescents' cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]