Self-Reported Change in Quality of Life with Retirement and Later Cognitive Decline: Prospective Data from the Nurses’ Health Study

Abstract

To investigate whether a positive transition into retirement may be associated with later cognitive ageing, we included a subset of 4,926 Nurses’ Health Study participants who retired from work at ages 60–69, then provided a subjective assessment of the change in overall quality of life (QOL) with retirement. Subsequently (range: 1 month to 4.7 years later), when all were aged 70+ years, they completed a baseline telephone cognitive battery evaluating global cognition, episodic memory and executive function. They had up to three follow-up cognitive assessments. Controlling for various occupational factors before retirement and socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related factors as of the baseline cognitive assessment, we used generalized linear models for repeated measures to estimate mean differences in rates of cognitive decline across categories of QOL transition at retirement: “worse”, “same” or “better”. Over a median 6 years of follow-up, the global cognitive score change was −0.123 on average. Compared with women who reported no change in QOL at retirement (31%), women who reported improvement (61%) showed a significantly slower rate of cognitive decline (difference= +0.011 95% CI =0.004, 0.019). This mean difference was equivalent to that observed between women who were 2 years apart in age. No significant differences in cognitive decline rates were observed for the women who reported worsened QOL (8%). Secondary analyses to address possible reverse causation showed robust associations. A positive transition into retirement was associated with better maintenance of cognitive function over time in aging women. These findings need to be replicated in other populations.

Association of Adherence to a Healthy Diet with Cognitive Decline in European and American Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis within the CHANCES Consortium

“…Future studies on cognitive functioning should preferably include tests that are able to measure areas of cognition most affected by common dementing illnesses, such as memory, attention, language and visuospatial abilities [33]. However, in our cohorts, we have observed associations between major risk factors and cognitive change based on TICS [34,35,36,37,38]. Two previous studies examining the initial HDI guidelines used the MMSE [13] and an extended and validated version of the MMSE, namely the 0- to 70-point neuropsychological test [12], to assess cognitive function.…”

Retirement or no Retirement? The Decision’s Effects on Cognitive Functioning, Well-Being, and Quality of Life

“…Similarly, Bosma, van Boxtel, Ponds, Houx, Burdorf, et al (2003) provided longitudinal data from the Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS), revealing that elderly people with high mental work demands showed less cognitive impairment compared to their counterparts with few work demands. In more recent studies, such findings show that continued mental stimulation in late adulthood may protect against cognitive impairment [ 50 ]. Further evidence of this notion is provided by the results of the current study indicating that the effects of retirement negatively affect the maintenance of cognitive functions [ 14 , 24 ].…”

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