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01-02-2019 | SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY

Education modifies the relationship between height and cognitive function in a cross-sectional population-based study of older adults in Rural South Africa

Authors: Lindsay C. Kobayashi, Lisa F. Berkman, Ryan G. Wagner, Kathleen Kahn, Stephen Tollman, S. V. Subramanian

Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology | Issue 2/2019

Abstract

We aimed to estimate the relationship between height (a measure of early-life cumulative net nutrition) and later-life cognitive function among older rural South African adults, and whether education modified this relationship. Data were from baseline in-person interviews with 5059 adults ≥ 40 years in the population-based “Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa” (HAALSI) study in Agincourt sub-district, South Africa, in 2015. Linear regression was used to estimate the relationship between height quintile and latent cognitive function z-score (representing episodic memory, time orientation, and numeracy), with adjustment for life course covariates and a height-by-education interaction. Mean (SD) height was 162.7 (8.9) cm. Nearly half the sample had no formal education (46%; 2307/5059). Mean age- and sex-adjusted cognitive z-scores increased from − 0.68 (95% CI: − 0.76 to − 0.61) in those with no education in the shortest height quintile to 0.62 (95% CI: 0.52–0.71) in those with at least 8 years of education in the tallest height quintile. There was a linear height disparity in cognitive z-scores for those with no formal education (adjusted β = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.08–0.13 per height quintile), but no height disparity in cognitive z-scores in those with any level of education. Short stature is associated with poor cognitive function and may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment among older adults living in rural South Africa. The height disparity in cognitive function was negated for older adults who had any level of education.

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Title: Education modifies the relationship between height and cognitive function in a cross-sectional population-based study of older adults in Rural South Africa
Authors: Lindsay C. Kobayashi
Lisa F. Berkman
Ryan G. Wagner
Kathleen Kahn
Stephen Tollman
S. V. Subramanian
Publication date: 01-02-2019
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology / Issue 2/2019
Print ISSN: 0393-2990
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7284
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0453-1

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Education modifies the relationship between height and cognitive function in a cross-sectional population-based study of older adults in Rural South Africa

Abstract

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Abstract

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