Age at migration and cognitive functioning in later life: a cross-sectional study among older adults in India

Migration can occur at any age and has long-term repercussions on health and well-being later in life. This study aims to assess cognitive functioning ability in later life and its association with age at migration among older adults in India. For the analysis, 30,800 respondents aged 60 and above were selected from LASI (Longitudinal Ageing Study in India) data, wave 1. Cognitive functioning ability was measured through five global domains (memory, orientation, arithmetic function, executive function, and object naming). The overall score ranged between 0 and 43, and the higher scores indicate better cognitive functioning. Descriptive statistics, along with mean cognitive scores, were presented by bivariate analysis. Multivariable linear regression models were applied to show the association between age at migration and the cognitive functional abilities of older adults, and results from regression were presented by a beta coefficient (β) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Over half of the older persons (55.9%) were growing older as migrants in India. The migrants showed a lower cognition mean score (23) than non-migrants (25). Compared to the non-migrant group, the cognitive score was worse for those who migrated at an age between 0 and 14 years in both the unadjusted (β = -1.93; 95%CI: -2.10 to -1.75) and the adjusted (β = -0.41; 95%CI: -0.56 to -0.26) models. Further, migration during midlife was not found to be significantly associated with cognitive functioning, while migration at age 60 and above shows a significantly lower cognitive score. Similar results were found among male and female cognitive association with age at migration. The findings of our study reveal that persons with migration status had lower cognitive ability than non-migrants. The age at migration influences cognitive functioning. However, this study predicts that migrants, especially, need attention in cognitive ageing as they have worse cognition than non-migrants.