A - 76 Associations between Proportion of Life Spent in the U.S. and Cognitive Performance in Spanish-Speaking Older Latino Immigrants: Preliminary Findings from the Boston Latino Aging Study

Abstract Objective Latinos represent the largest immigrant demographic in the U.S. and are the second-fastest growing minority group. Older Latinos face an increased risk of dementia compared to their non-Hispanic white counterparts. However, there is a notable scarcity of research examining how immigration-related factors among Latinos influence their vulnerability to cognitive decline and dementia. We explored the associations between the proportion of life spent in the U.S. and cognitive performance in older Latino immigrants. Method 116 Spanish-speaking participants (mean age: 68.8 ± 8.6, educational attainment: 10.5 ± 4.8, 79% female, MMSE: 25.4 ± 3.8) from the Boston Latino Aging Study were included. The adapted Preclinical Alzheimer’s Cognitive Composite-5 (PACC5), comprising the Mini-Mental State Examination-MMSE, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, NEUROPSI-Historias, Free-and-Cued-Selective-Reminding-Test, and Semantic Fluency was used to assess cognition. Spearman’s correlations examined the association between the proportion of life spent in the U.S. (number of years in the U.S./age) and cognition, controlling for age and education. Results The proportion of life spent in the U.S. (mean: 41.6 ± 22.7 years) did not significantly correlate with PACC5 performance (ρ = 0.02, p > 0.05). Nonetheless, there was a significant association with global cognitive function (MMSE ρ = 0.19, p = 0.04). Conclusions Our initial results did not reveal a correlation between the duration of time spent in the U.S. and the PACC5. However, a higher percentage of years lived in the U.S. correlated with better global cognition. Future studies utilizing larger cohorts are necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of cognitive health in elderly Latinos, including investigating the effects of immigration-related factors.