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AlzRisk Paper Detail
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Reference: Wilson, 2002a
Cohort: Religious Orders Study
Risk Factor: Cognitive Activity


Exposure Detail
Study participants were asked at baseline about the frequency with which they participated in seven cognitive leisure activities: (i) watching television, (ii) listening to the radio, (iii) reading newspapers, (iv) reading magazines, (v) reading books, (vi) playing cards, checkers, crosswords, or puzzle games, and (vii) attending museums. For each activity, the investigators scored participation as follows: "every day or about every day" (5 points), "several times a week" (4 points), "several times a month" (3 points), "several times a year" (2 points) and, "once a year or less" (1 point). On this scoring scale, 1 point corresponds to a one-step increment in participation frequency. A composite cognitive activity scale score ranging from 1 to 5 was obtained by averaging participation scores across the seven cognitive activities. In this study, the mean composite cognitive activity score was 3.57 (SD = 0.55).

"At baseline, persons were asked about time typically spent in 7 common activities that involve information processing as a central component: viewing television; listening to radio; reading newspapers; reading magazines; reading books; playing games such as cards, checkers, crosswords, or other puzzles; and going to museums. Frequency of participation in each activity was rated on a 5-point scale, as follows: 5 points, every day or about every day; 4 points, several times a week; 3 points, several times a month; 2 points, several times a year; and 1 point, once a year or less. Responses to each item were averaged to yield the composite measure."

Ethnicity Detail
In this analytic sample, 91% of the participants are Caucasian.

Screening and Diagnosis Detail
Screening Method:
CERADConsortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (Morris 1989)

AD Diagnosis:
NINCDS ADRDA National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association Criteria (McKhann 1984)

"At baseline, each person had a uniform structured evaluation that was repeated annually by examiners blinded to previously collected data. The evaluation has been previously described.9-11 It included a medical history, neurological examination, assessment of cognitive function, and review of brain scan when available. On the basis of this evaluation, a board-certified neurologist diagnosed AD and other common conditions affecting cognitive or physical function (eg, stroke). The diagnosis of AD followed the criteria of the joint working group of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS/ADRDA).12"

Covariates & Analysis Detail
Analysis Type:
Cox proportional hazards regression

AD Covariates:
Aage
Eeducation
Ggender