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Disturbance of attention network functions in Chinese healthy older adults: an intra-individual perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2015

Hanna Lu ,
Ada W. T. Fung ,
Sandra S. M. Chan  and
Linda C. W. Lam
Hanna Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, G/F, Multi-Centre, Tai Po Hospital, Hong Kong, SARChina
Ada W. T. Fung
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, G/F, Multi-Centre, Tai Po Hospital, Hong Kong, SARChina
Sandra S. M. Chan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, G/F, Multi-Centre, Tai Po Hospital, Hong Kong, SARChina
Linda C. W. Lam*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, G/F, Multi-Centre, Tai Po Hospital, Hong Kong, SARChina
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Linda C. W. Lam, MD, Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, G/F Multicenter, Tai Po Hospital, Tai Po, Hong Kong. Phone: +(852) 2607-6027; Fax: +(852) 2667-5464. Email: cwlam@cuhk.edu.hk.
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Abstract

Background:

Intra-individual variability (IIV) and the change of attentional functions have been reported to be susceptible to both healthy ageing and pathological ageing. The current study aimed to evaluate the IIV of attention and the age-related effect on alerting, orienting, and executive control in cognitively healthy older adults.

Method:

We evaluated 145 Chinese older adults (age range of 65–80 years, mean age of 72.41 years) with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and the Attention network test (ANT). A two-step strategy of analytical methods was used: Firstly, the IIV of older adults was evaluated by the intraindividual coefficient of variation of reaction time (ICV-RT). The correlation between ICV-RT and age was used to evaluate the necessity of subgrouping. Further, the comparisons of ANT performance among three age groups were performed with processing speed adjusted.

Results:

Person's correlation revealed significant positive correlations between age and IIV (r = 0.185, p = 0.032), age and executive control (r = 0.253, p = 0.003). Furthermore, one-way ANOVA comparisons among three age groups revealed a significant age-related disturbance on executive control (F = 4.55, p = 0.01), in which oldest group (group with age >75 years) showed less efficient executive control than young-old (group with age 65–70 years) (Conventional score, p = 0.012; Ratio score, p = 0.020).

Conclusion:

Advancing age has an effect on both IIV and executive attention in cognitively healthy older adults, suggesting that the disturbance of executive attention is a sensitive indicator to reflect healthy ageing. Its significance to predict further deterioration should be carefully evaluated with prospective studies.

Keywords

healthy ageingattention networkintra-individual variabilityexecutive control
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , February 2016 , pp. 291 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2015 

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