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- Title
Association between socioeconomic status and cognitive functioning among older adults in Ghana.
- Authors
Nutakor, Jonathan Aseye; Dai, Baozhen; Zhou, Jianzai; Larnyo, Ebenezer; Gavu, Alexander Kwame; Asare, Maxwell Kwabena
- Abstract
<bold>Objectives: </bold>Extensive analysis of the associations between socioeconomic status and cognition has been conducted among older adults. However, it is not clear whether associations in high-income countries are similar in low-and middle-income countries. This research aims to investigate the association between the socioeconomic status of older adults in Ghana and their cognitive function by using a sample of older adults that is nationally representative.<bold>Methods: </bold>Data were obtained from a sample of older Ghanaian adults (50+) from the Study of Global AGEing and Adult Health Wave 1 (n = 3710) of the World Health Organization. Objectively, cognition was measured by verbal recall, verbal fluency, forward digit span, and backward digit span, while variations in cognition overall were evaluated against socioeconomic factors using linear regression.<bold>Results: </bold>Older age, older women, rural life, increasing memory difficulty, and being diagnosed with stroke were the most significant determinants of impaired cognitive function. Higher education and higher income were significantly associated with a better cognitive function than those with no formal education and low income.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>These results provide new evidence for public health programs in Ghana and other low-and middle-income countries to tackle cognitive impairments in growing populations.
- Subjects
GHANA; OLDER people; COGNITIVE ability; WORLD Health Organization; OLDER women; MEMORY span; COGNITION disorders
- Publication
International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2021, Vol 36, Issue 5, p756
- ISSN
0885-6230
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1002/gps.5475