Migration and Health in Older Adults: The Cognitive and Health Profile of Lusophone Immigrants in Luxembourg in Comparison to Local Samples from Portugal

Poster (2023, September 04)

Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in cognition, mental health, and general health among older Lusophone immigrants (>55 years old) in Luxembourg compared to a sample residing in ... [more ▼]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in cognition, mental health, and general health among older Lusophone immigrants (>55 years old) in Luxembourg compared to a sample residing in Portugal. Methods: Data from immigrants (N=83, mean age=62.08, SD=6.511, 72.84% women) were sourced from the MEDITAGING study, funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)-Project Reference 15240063. Portuguese data were collected by the GABT (N=55, mean age=68.18, SD = 5.869, 74.55% women) and PREDICTOR projects (N=83, mean age=67.86, SD=5.24, 83.13% women). The outcomes were the Body Mass Index and the score on the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Trail Making Test (TMT), the 5-Item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-5), and the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAI). Results: The findings revealed significant differences between the immigrant and reference samples in TMT time A (p = .018), TMT time B (p = .004), TMT B-A (p = .03 0), GAI (p < .001), and GDS (p = .001), with immigrants performing higher than their peers in all these measures. A Linear regression analysis indicated that having hypertension (p = .026), being unmarried (p = .008), and having fewer years of formal education (p = .003) are associated with higher scores in TMT Time A, while having less formal education (p > .001) is related to higher scores in Time B. Conclusion: The findings suggest that Lusophone immigrants residing in Luxembourg have worse affective and cognitive outcomes compared to their peers living in Portugal. However, further exploration of the influence of health and sociodemographic factors is necessary. [less ▲]

Envelhecimento Saudável O que fazer para buscarmos envelhecer com saúde ?

Conference given outside the academic context (2022)

Working Memory Training Coupled With Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Experiment

in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (2022)

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been employed to boost working memory training (WMT) effects. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the efficacy of this combination in ... [more ▼]

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been employed to boost working memory training (WMT) effects. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the efficacy of this combination in older adults. The present study is aimed to assess the delayed transfer effects of tDCS coupled with WMT in older adults in a 15-day follow-up. We explored if general cognitive ability, age, and educational level predicted the effects. Methods: In this single-center, double-blind randomized sham-controlled experiment, 54 older adults were randomized into three groups: anodal-tDCS (atDCS)+WMT, sham-tDCS (stDCS)+WMT, and double-sham. Five sessions of tDCS (2 mA) were applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Far transfer was measured by Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM), while the near transfer effects were assessed through Digit Span. A frequentist linear mixed model (LMM) was complemented by a Bayesian approach in data analysis. Results: Working memory training improved dual n-back performance in both groups submitted to this intervention but only the group that received atDCS+WMT displayed a significant improvement from pretest to follow-up in transfer measures of reasoning (RAPM) and short-term memory (forward Digit Span). Near transfer improvements predicted gains in far transfer, demonstrating that the far transfer is due to an improvement in the trained construct of working memory. Age, formal education, and vocabulary score seem to predict the gains in reasoning. However, Bayesian results do not provide substantial evidence to support this claim. Conclusion: This study will help to consolidate the incipient but auspicious field of cognitive training coupled with tDCS in healthy older adults. Our findings demonstrated that atDCS may potentialize WMT by promoting transfer effects in short-term memory and reasoning in older adults, which are observed especially at follow-up. [less ▲]

The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment in Latin America and the Caribbean: a systematic review and meta-analysis

in Aging and Mental Health (2021)