IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/geronb/v80y2025i1p25-36..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of APOE Alleles, Cognitive Activities, and Social Activities on Cognitive Decline in African Americans

Author

Listed:
  • Neke A Nsor
  • Kyle J Bourassa
  • Lisa L Barnes
  • Casey K Brown

Abstract

ObjectivesOlder African Americans are among the fastest-growing populations, yet are underrepresented in studies examining risk factors related to decline. The present study examines whether biological factors (apolipoprotein [APOE] alleles) interact with behavioral factors including cognitive activities (e.g., reading, playing games) and social activities (e.g., participating in social groups) to predict cognitive decline in African Americans.MethodsIn total, 734 African American adults from the Minority Aging Research Study, aged 65 and older (with no known dementia at the time of enrollment), underwent annual cognitive testing for up to 10 years. At baseline, APOE status was determined and participants reported their frequency of participation in social and cognitive activities. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effects of APOE, cognitive activities, and social activities on cognitive decline, and their interaction effects over a 10-year period.ResultsThe number of APOE alleles had an effect on cognitive decline, such that a greater number of APOE4 alleles was associated with greater cognitive decline, whereas a greater number of APOE2 alleles was associated with less cognitive decline. Cognitive and social activities did not interact with APOE count to predict cognitive decline; however, APOE4 and social activities had additive, independent effects on cognitive decline.DiscussionResults replicate prior findings linking APOE4 to cognitive decline and highlight the importance of APOE2 and social activities in delaying cognitive decline in African Americans.

Suggested Citation

  • Neke A Nsor & Kyle J Bourassa & Lisa L Barnes & Casey K Brown, 2025. "The Effects of APOE Alleles, Cognitive Activities, and Social Activities on Cognitive Decline in African Americans," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 80(1), pages 25-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:80:y:2025:i:1:p:25-36.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbae172
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:80:y:2025:i:1:p:25-36.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.