Meditation aims to improve ones psychological capacities by encouraging a calm and focused mind. Studies have ob-served positive benefits of meditation on health and cognition, such as reduced anxiety and enhanced executive control.Meditation has even been shown to alter brain structure and function. These benefits are mainly observed in long-termmeditators, with few studies examining the effects of short-term meditation. The current study investigated whether thereare immediate benefits of meditation. Electroencephalography was recorded while cognitive tasks were completed, wealso collected subjective well-being measures before and after exposure to either a brief meditation or a relaxation story.Post-intervention reaction time was shorter in meditators compared to the relaxation story. Both groups exhibited increasedwell-being, smaller N2s, and larger P3bs post-intervention. These results suggest that while mindfulness meditation mayimprove conflict monitoring, both interventions appear to improve well-being. Overall, there may be immediate benefitsof meditation for even novice meditators.

Objectives

Understanding racial/ethnic disparities in late-life cognitive health is a public health imperative. We used baseline data from the Kaiser Healthy Aging and Diverse Life Experiences (KHANDLE) study to examine how age, education, gender, and clinical diagnosis, a proxy for brain health, are associated with cross-sectional measures of cognition in diverse racial/ethnic groups.

Methods

Comprehensive measures of cognition were obtained using the Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales and the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognitive Health Battery in a sample of 1,695 KHANDLE participants (Asians 24%, Blacks 26%, Latinos 20%, Whites 29%). A 25% random subsample was clinically evaluated and diagnosed with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia. Cognitive test scores were regressed on core demographic variables and diagnosis in the combined sample and in multiple group analyses stratified by racial/ethnic group.

Results

Race/ethnicity and education were variably associated with test scores with strongest associations with tests of vocabulary and semantic memory. Older age was associated with poorer performance on all measures, and gender differences varied across cognitive tests. Clinical diagnosis of MCI or dementia was associated with average decrements in test scores that ranged from -0.41 to -0.84 SD, with largest differences on tests of executive function and episodic memory. With few exceptions, associations of demographic variables and clinical diagnosis did not differ across racial/ethnic groups.

Discussion

The robust associations of cognitive test results with clinical diagnosis independent of core demographic variables and race/ethnicity support the validity of cognitive tests as indicators for brain health in diverse older adults.

Objectives

Late-life depression is a comorbidity that may co-occur in older adults with hearing loss-each has prevalent and independent modifiable risk factors for dementia.

Methods

Using data from 1,820 Health, Aging and Body Composition study participants (74 ± 2.8 years, 38% Black race), we compared the hearing loss-dementia/cognitive decline relationship between those with normal hearing/mild hearing loss and those with moderate or greater hearing loss. Using linear mixed-effects and Cox proportional hazard models, we investigated if the associations between hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia (Modified Mini-Mental State [3MS] Examination and Digit Symbol Substitution Test [DSST]) differed by the presence or absence of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were defined as Center for Epidemiologic Study-Depression scale 10 ≥10 at one or more visits from Years 1-5. Algorithmic incident dementia was defined using medication use, hospitalizations, and cognitive test scores. Audiometric hearing loss was measured at Year 5 and categorized as normal/mild versus moderate or greater hearing loss.

Results

Having both hearing loss and depressive symptoms (vs. having neither) was associated with faster rates of decline in 3MS Examination (β = -0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.78, -0.19) and DSST (β = -0.35; 95% CI: -0.67, -0.03) over 10 years of follow-up. Having both hearing loss and depressive symptoms (vs. neither) was associated with increased risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.91; 95% CI: 1.59, 5.33 vs. HR: 1.54; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.15 hearing loss only and HR: 2.35; 95% CI: 1.56, 3.53 depressive symptoms only) of incident dementia in multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models.

Discussion

Comorbid conditions among hearing-impaired older adults should be considered and may aid in dementia prevention and management strategies.