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Early life development in a multiethnic sample and the relation to late life cognition
Melrose RJ, Brewster P, Marquine MJ, MacKay-Brandt A, Reed B, Farias ST, Mungas D.. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2014-01-03
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objectives Poor quality of early life conditions has been associated with poorer late life cognition and increased risk of dementia. Early life physical development can be captured using adult measures of height and head circumference. Availability of resources may be reflected by socioeconomic indicators, such as parental education and family size. We sought to determine the association between early life development and experience and late life semantic memory, episodic memory, and executive functioning abilities, as well as rate of cognitive decline. Method This study was conducted using the UC Davis Aging Diversity cohort, an ethnically diverse sample of Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic individuals from northern California. We used latent variable modeling to measure growth and childhood socioeconomic environment (SES) and examine their associations with longitudinal cognitive outcomes using mixed effects modeling. Results Growth was positively related to higher childhood SES. Higher childhood SES was associated with better semantic memory. Both low growth and low SES were associated with increased rate of cognitive decline. Discussion These findings demonstrate that early life experiences influence the trajectory of cognitive aging. Early life development and experience appears to provide a distal basis upon which additional risk and protective factors interact in the development of dementia.
Key findings
- Objectives Poor quality of early life conditions has been associated with poorer late life cognition and increased risk of dementia.
- Results Growth was positively related to higher childhood SES.
- Higher childhood SES was associated with better semantic memory.
- Both low growth and low SES were associated with increased rate of cognitive decline.
- Discussion These findings demonstrate that early life experiences influence the trajectory of cognitive aging.
Why it matters
This study found that early-life growth and childhood socioeconomic status were related to later-life memory and rate of cognitive decline in an ethnically diverse sample. It suggests early-life experiences influence cognitive aging, but it does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Study designlongitudinal study
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 49/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | The Journals of Gerontology Series B: journal h-index 225 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A longitudinal study following the same people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 79 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 6.1 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 2.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 13 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Dan Mungas: h-index 93 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Los Angeles: institution h-index 1,923 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 24389122) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 49 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbt126
- PubMed: 24389122
- Original source →
- Free full text: The Journals of Gerontology Series B →
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Melrose, R. J., Brewster, P., Marquine, M. J., MacKay-Brandt, A., Reed, B., Farias, S. T., et al. (2015). Early life development in a multiethnic sample and the relation to late life cognition. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbt126
Vancouver
Melrose RJ, Brewster P, Marquine MJ, MacKay-Brandt A, Reed B, Farias ST, et al. Early life development in a multiethnic sample and the relation to late life cognition. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2015. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbt126. PMID: 24389122.
BibTeX
@article{melrose2015-24389122,
author = {Melrose, R. J. and Brewster, P. and Marquine, M. J. and MacKay-Brandt, A. and Reed, B. and Farias, S. T. and Mungas, D.},
title = {{Early life development in a multiethnic sample and the relation to late life cognition}},
journal = {The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbt126},
pmid = {24389122},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbt126}
}
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