Risk and Resiliency for Dementia: Comparison of Male and Female Veterans

Abstract

The goal of this project is to identify key factors associated with risk and resiliency for cognitive impairment and dementia in older Veterans. In Year 3, we sought to accomplish this goal through completing planned analyses, delivering conference presentations, and finishing studies for publication for AIMS 1-3. For AIM 1, we published a paper on rates of cognitive impairment and associated conditions in veteran women age 65+. About 63.5 percent were diagnosed with dementia, with rates increasing with age. About 41percent had dementia subtypes with Alzheimers disease being the most prevalent (72 percent). Results were presented at the 2018 Alzheimers Association International Conference (AAIC) and were published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. For AIM 2, we published a paper on the association of military-related risk factors and dementia in 109,104 female veterans age 55+. During follow-up (mean 4.0 years) 4 percent of female veterans developed dementia. We found veteran women with TBI, PTSD, and depression were greater than 1.5 times risk of dementia than those without diagnoses after adjusting for demographics and medical conditions. Results were published in Neurology. For AIM 2, we also completed a study comparing veteran women age 55+ with and without a history of military sexual trauma (MST) on medical and psychiatric disorders. After multivariable adjustment, the odds of having most conditions examined were 2 to 7 times higher for those with MST than those without, except for tobacco use and dementia (Ps greater than 0.001). Results were accepted for publication in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. For AIM 3, we also finished new analyses on the association between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and dementia in female veterans age 55+, in 2207 veteran women with AUD, and 2207 age matched veteran women without AUD. During follow-up (mean 3.6 years) more women (4 percent) with AUD developed dementia than women without AUD 1 percent.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 14, 2019
Accession Number
AD1087496

Entities

People

  • Kristine Yaffe

Organizations

  • Northern California Institute for Research and Education

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alzheimer Disease
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Biomedical Research
  • Brain Injuries
  • California
  • Cognitive Impairment
  • Data Analysis
  • Dementia
  • Demography
  • Depression
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Education
  • Governments
  • Health
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Internal Medicine
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Disorders
  • Neurology
  • Pain
  • Professional Development
  • Psychiatry
  • Risk Factors
  • Therapy
  • Training
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder

Fields of Study

  • Medicine
  • Psychology

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