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63/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 63 out of 100. Long-term cohort studies

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Studies of long-term cognitive change should account for the potential effects of education on the outcome, since some studies have demonstrated an association of education with dementia risk. Evaluating cognitive change is more ideal than evaluating cognitive performance at a single time point, because it should be less susceptible to confounding. In this analysis of 14,020 persons from a US cohort study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, we measured change in performance on 3 cognitive tests over a 20-year period, from ages 48-67 years (1990-1992) through ages 70-89 years (2011-2013).

Key findings

Evaluating cognitive change is more ideal than evaluating cognitive performance at a single time point, because it should be less susceptible to confounding.
In this analysis of 14,020 persons from a US cohort study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, we measured change in performance on 3 cognitive tests over a 20-year period, from ages 48-67 years (1990-1992) through ages 70-89 years (2011-2013).
Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the association between education and cognitive change in unweighted adjusted models, in models incorporating inverse probability of attrition weighting, and in models using cognitive scores imputed from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status for participants not examined in person.
Education did not have a strong relationship with change in cognitive test performance, although the rate of decline was somewhat slower among persons with lower levels of education.

Why it matters

This study measured change in cognitive test performance over 20 years and considered how education and study dropout might affect the results. It is observational and does not test any treatment or prevention for dementia.

Study details

Study designcohort study
Participants14,020
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 63/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a cohort study following people over time. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 60 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 63 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (American journal of epidemiology)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	American Journal of Epidemiology: journal h-index 416 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A cohort study following 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	2014 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	4 / 4	14,020 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	5 / 7	Cited 119 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	8.5 citations a year over 14 year(s) since 2014
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 8.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	3 / 6	Cited by 10 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 15 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	— / 4	OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author T. H. Mosley holds only 9 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score
Institution's track record	2 / 3	Johns Hopkins University: institution h-index 2,306 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 24627572)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	60 / 96	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 60 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 63 out of 100.
Total	63 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

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APA 7th

Gottesman, R. F., Rawlings, A. M., Sharrett, A. R., Albert, M., Alonso, A., Bandeen-Roche, K., et al. (2014). Impact of differential attrition on the association of education with cognitive change over 20 years of follow-up: the ARIC neurocognitive study. American journal of epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwu020

Vancouver

Gottesman RF, Rawlings AM, Sharrett AR, Albert M, Alonso A, Bandeen-Roche K, et al. Impact of differential attrition on the association of education with cognitive change over 20 years of follow-up: the ARIC neurocognitive study. American journal of epidemiology. 2014. doi:10.1093/aje/kwu020. PMID: 24627572.

BibTeX

@article{gottesman2014-24627572,
  author  = {Gottesman, R. F. and Rawlings, A. M. and Sharrett, A. R. and Albert, M. and Alonso, A. and Bandeen-Roche, K. and Coker, L. H. and Coresh, J. and others},
  title   = {{Impact of differential attrition on the association of education with cognitive change over 20 years of follow-up: the ARIC neurocognitive study}},
  journal = {American journal of epidemiology},
  year    = {2014},
  doi     = {10.1093/aje/kwu020},
  pmid    = {24627572},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwu020}
}

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