MINIMAL INFLUENCE OF AGE, EDUCATION, AND GENDER ON EPISODIC MEMORY FUNCTIONING IN VERY OLD-AGE - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY OF NONAGENARIANS

The purpose of this study was to assess the relative importance of age , gender, and education on episodic memory functioning in a population -based sample of healthy individuals, between 90 and 100 years of age. A total of 80 persons completed a face recognition task, immediate an d delayed word recall, object recall, and the Mini-Mental State Examin ation. Utilizing regression analyses, it was found that the demographi c variables explained only 3-8% of the variation in cognitive performa nce. Age had a negative effect only on object recall, where increasing age was associated with decreasing performance. Level of education wa s positively related to delayed word recall and MMSE score, whereas ge nder had no effect whatsoever. It was suggested that demographic varia bles may lose some of their importance as predictors of memory perform ance in very old age. This may result from selective survival effects that become particularly pronounced when participants are rigorously s creened for health. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.