PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Hu, Yaoyue
AU  - Ruiz, Milagros
AU  - Bobak, Martin
AU  - Martikainen, Pekka
TI  - Four-year trajectories of episodic memory decline in mid-late life by living arrangements: a cross-national comparison between China and England
AID  - 10.1136/jech-2020-215567
DP  - 2021 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
PG  - 881--889
VI  - 75
IP  - 9
4099  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/75/9/881.short
4100  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/75/9/881.full
SO  - J Epidemiol Community Health2021 Sep 01; 75
AB  - Background There is mixed evidence on the association between living arrangements and mid-late life cognition, which may be due to distinct familial arrangements and preferences between populations. To address such heterogeneity, we assessed these associations in China and England.Methods Four-year trajectories of episodic memory scores (0–20, word recall test) by living arrangements (living with partner only, living with partner and children/grandchildren, living with no partner but with children/grandchildren, and living alone) were estimated using latent growth curve modelling for men and women aged 50+ from China (n=12 801) and England (n=10 964).Results After adjusting for baseline socioeconomic, health behaviours and health covariates, worse baseline memory was found in Chinese adults living with no partner but with children/grandchildren and in Chinese women living with partner and children/grandchildren, compared with those living with partner only. Better baseline memory was associated with living alone in English women. A faster memory decline was found in Chinese men living with no partner but with children/grandchildren (−0.122 word/year, 95% CI −0.213 to –0.031), as well as in English women living with children/grandchildren with (−0.114, 95% CI −0.180 to –0.049) or without (−0.118, 95% CI −0.209 to –0.026) a partner, and those living alone (−0.075, 95% CI −0.127 to –0.024). No differences at baseline nor over follow-up were found between English men in different living arrangements.Conclusion Overall, our findings did not confirm the protective effects of co-residence with children/grandchildren, nor the detrimental effects of living alone on mid-late life cognition in China and England.Data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing are available in a public, open access repository (CHARLS: http://charls.pku.edu.cn/pages/data/111/en.html; ELSA: https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/series/series?id=200011).