A-031 Early Childhood Quality of Education and Late-Life Cognitive Function in a Population-Based Sample from Puerto Rico

Abstract

Abstract Objective Education quality may be related to disparities in late-life cognition in the U.S. We examined whether years of education and indicators of childhood quality of education (QOE) are associated with cognitive decline and cognitive impairment (CI) in older Puerto Ricans. Method Participants included 3,883 community-dwelling older adults aged 60+ years from the Puerto Rican Elderly: Health Conditions Study without CI at baseline. A composite of QOE included school year length, student-teacher ratio, attendance, and literacy levels for each municipality from Census and education reports (1926–1945). Cognitive functioning was measured by the minimental Cabán (MMC) at baseline and four-year follow-up. CI was assigned when MMC score was < 11 points. Covariate-adjusted logistic and linear regression models were used to examine incident CI and decline, respectively. Results Participants reported 8 years of education on average. Years of education (OR = 0.84; 95% CI = 0.79, 0.90; p = < .0001) was associated with a lower risk of incident CI but QOE was not (p = .37). In covariate-adjusted models, QOE (F(8, 2482) = 96.87, p < .05, R2 = .24) was significantly associated with cognitive decline. However, when years of education was added to the model, QOE was no longer statistically significant (p = .34). Conclusions This study provides further evidence that years of education and QOE are important factors for understanding risk of negative cognitive outcomes in older age, and that for this older Puerto Rican sample, years of education and literacy largely explained associations between QOE and late-life cognition.