Quality, and not just quantity, of education accounts for differences in psychometric performance between african americans and white non-hispanics with Alzheimer's disease.
Quality, and not just quantity, of education accounts for differences in psychometric performance between african americans and white non-hispanics with Alzheimer's disease.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1017/s1355617711001688
复制
发表时间：
2012-03
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Hamilton, Roy
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chin, Alexander L.;Negash, Selam;Xie, Sharon;Arnold, Steven E.;Hamilton, Roy
关键词：
种族对阿尔茨海默病（AD）评估中认知测试表现的影响仍然存在争议。一个因素，可能大大有助于不同人群的认知测试表现的差异是教育。目前的研究调查了教育质量在多大程度上，即使在控制了正式的教育年限后，非裔美国人和白色非西班牙裔（WNHs）之间的认知表现差异。回顾性队列包括244例诊断为AD的患者，这些患者自认为是非裔美国人（n=51）或WNH（n=193）。韦氏成人阅读测验（WTAR）被用来评估教育质量。在一项控制了传统人口统计学（包括年龄，性别和正规教育年限）的分析中，非裔美国人在简易精神状态检查以及记忆，注意力和语言的神经心理学测试中的得分显着低于WNH。然而，在调整阅读水平后，所有先前观察到的差异均显著减弱。即使在控制了疾病的严重程度后，这种衰减效应仍然存在，表明阅读分数不会受到痴呆严重程度的混淆。这些发现表明，在评估非裔美国人AD患者的认知表现时，需要考虑教育的质量，而不仅仅是数量。
The effect of race on cognitive test performance in the evaluation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains controversial. One factor that may contribute substantially to differences in cognitive test performance in diverse populations is education. The current study examined the extent to which quality of education, even after controlling for formal years of education, accounts for differences in cognitive performance between African Americans and White Non-Hispanics (WNHs). The retrospective cohort included 244 patients diagnosed with AD who self-identified as African Americans (n=51) or WNHs (n=193). The Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR) was used as an estimate of quality of education. In an analysis that controlled for traditional demographics, including age, sex, and years of formal education, African Americans scored significantly lower than WNHs on the Mini-Mental State Examination, as well as on neuropsychological tests of memory, attention, and language. However, after also adjusting for reading level, all previously observed differences were significantly attenuated. The attenuating effect remained even after controlling for disease severity, indicating that reading scores are not confounded by severity of dementia. These findings suggest that quality, and not just quantity, of education needs to be taken into account when assessing cognitive performance in African Americans with AD.