Cognitive Reserve and Lifestyle in Spanish Individuals With Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Some authors suggest that besides the fundamental components, cognitive reserve (CR) also reflects the influence of a combination of factors that improve mental health. Method: After obtaining the sociodemographic profile of each participant and evaluating their neurologic and neuropsychologic abilities, first, homogeneity analysis was used as a technique to select variables and reduce the number of categories with similar behavior; then CR construct was identified through a latent class analysis model. It was then possible to categorize participants according to their level in this construct and compare the neuropsychological performance of the subgroups that emerged, using a t test of differences of means for independent samples. Results: Participants with Alzheimer’s disease with low CR scores exhibited significantly greater deficits in measures of memory, attention, and language than patients with high CR. Conclusions: Our results ratify the effect of higher education, higher professional performance, and ludic activities on CR.