While research suggested that dementia prevalence declined in the past decade in China and South Korea, women have higher prevalence of dementia than men in both countries. Importantly, there lacks critical evidence about what biopsychosocial factors may have contributed to gender-specific trends in dementia. In this study, we compare the trends in cognitive scores and dementia risk among older Chinese and Korean adults between 2008-2011 to 2018-2020 by analyzing longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Increases in cognitive scores ad declines in dementia risk were reported for both countries. Using the Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we estimated that for both men and women, improvements in cognitive functioning were largely driven by cohort succession increasing the average educational attainment of the two populations. However, increases in the prevalence of cardiovascular and psychological conditions for older Chinese and Korean adults as specific risk factors detrimental to continued gains in cognitive functioning. This comparative study contributes to the public health literature by highlighting that population aging may not necessarily portend an increasing burden of cognitive diseases when cohorts bring different socioeconomic and health profiles with them into older adulthood.

Authors:
Liying Luo, The Pennsylvania State University, United States
Liyun Liu, University of Utah, United States
Cayley Ryan-Claytor, The Pennsylvania State University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Liying Luo is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Demography and Associate Director of the Center for Social Data Analytics at The Pennsylvania State University.

Connect on Linkedin
https://sociology.la.psu.edu/people/liying-luo/

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