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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on October 13, 2008
Age and Ageing 2008 37(6):685-689; doi:10.1093/ageing/afn194
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Cognitive function and psychological well-being: findings from a population-based cohort

David J. Llewellyn1, Iain A. Lang2, Kenneth M. Langa3,4,5 and Felicia A. Huppert6

1 Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Forvie Site, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2SR, UK
2 Public Health and Epidemiology Group, Peninsula Medical School, RD&E Wonford Site, Barrack Road, Exeter EX2 5DW, UK
3 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-0429 MI, USA
4 Veterans Affairs Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research, Michigan, USA
5 Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, MI, USA
6 Department of Psychiatry, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK

Address correspondence to: D. J. Llewellyn. Tel: (+44)1223 767148. Fax: (+44)1223330330. Email: dl355{at}medschl.cam.ac.uk

Background: depression is associated with poor cognitive function, though little is known about the relationship between psychological well-being and cognitive function.

Objective: to investigate whether psychological well-being is associated with levels of cognitive function.

Design: nationally representative population-based cohort study.

Setting and participants: 11,234 non-institutionalised adults aged 50 years and over of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing in 2002.

Methods: psychological well-being was measured using the CASP-19, and cognitive function was assessed using neuropsychological tests of time orientation, immediate and delayed verbal memory, prospective memory, verbal fluency, numerical ability, cognitive speed and attention. The relation of psychological well-being to cognitive function was modelled using linear regression.

Results: on a global cognitive score combining all cognitive tests, those in the fifth quintile of psychological well-being scored an average of 0.30 SD units higher than those in the lowest quintile (95% CI 0.24–0.35) after adjustment for depressive symptoms and sociodemographics. This association remained after additional adjustment for physical health and health behaviours. The same pattern of association was observed for men and women, and across all cognitive domains.

Conclusions: in a large population of community living adults, higher levels of psychological well-being were associated with better cognitive function.

Keywords: cognition, cognitive function, psychological well-being, risk factors, elderly

Received 26 November 2007; accepted in revised form 11 April 2008.


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