Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38365967›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2024

Mid-life employment trajectories and subsequent memory function and rate of decline in rural South Africa, 2000-22.

Xuexin Yu, Chodziwadziwa W Kabudula, Ryan G Wagner, Darina T Bassil, Meagan T Farrell, Stephen M Tollman, Kathleen Kahn, Lisa F Berkman, Molly S Rosenberg, Lindsay C Kobayashi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Associations between occupational trajectories at ages 35-55 and later-life cognition in older adults in Chile.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
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  6. Physical and mental demands of work associated with dementia risk in later life.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Xuexin YuCentre for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6484-6035
Chodziwadziwa W KabudulaMRC/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Ryan G WagnerMRC/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Darina T BassilHarvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Meagan T FarrellHarvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4507-4017
Stephen M TollmanMRC/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Kathleen KahnMRC/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Lisa F BerkmanMRC/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Molly S RosenbergDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6679-6791
Lindsay C KobayashiCentre for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2725-3107

Funding

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PREDICTORS OF PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONP01AG041710 · NIA · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI Julia Katherine Rohr · 2013 to 2026
$37.3M
Socioeconomic, Cardiovascular, and Psychosocial Sources of Cross-National Variation in Cognitive Health Among Older AdultsR01AG070953 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI Alden L. Gross, Lindsay C Kobayashi · 2021 to 2026
$4.6M
Cumulative socioeconomic exposures, cash transfer interventions, and later-life cognitive decline and dementia risk in a low-income region of South AfricaR01AG069128 · NIA · TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY · PI Lindsay C Kobayashi, Molly Sears Rosenberg · 2020 to 2026
$4.1M
Medical Research CouncilNIA NIH HHS P01 AG041710NIA NIH HHS R01 AG069128NIA NIH HHS R01 AG070953NIH HHS P01AG041710Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust 058893/Z/99/A
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimTo investigate mid-life employment trajectories in relation to later-life memory function and rate of decline in rural South Africa.

methodsData from the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System were linked to the 'Health and Ageing in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa' (HAALSI) in rural Agincourt, South Africa (N = 3133). Employment was assessed every 4 years over 2000-12 as being employed (0, 1, 2 and ≥3 time points), being employed in a higher-skill occupation (0, 1, 2 and ≥3 time points) and dynamic employment trajectories identified using sequence analysis. Latent memory z-scores were assessed over 2014-22. Mixed-effects linear regression models were fitted to examine the associations of interest.

resultsSustained mid-life employment from 2000-12 (β = 0.052, 95% CI: -0.028 to 0.132, 1 vs 0 time points; β = 0.163, 95% CI: 0.077 to 0.250, 2 vs 0 time points; β = 0.212, 95% CI: 0.128 to 0.296, ≥3 vs 0 time points) and greater time spent in a higher-skill occupation (β = 0.077, 95% CI: -0.020 to 0.175, 1 vs 0 time points; β = 0.241, 95% CI: 0.070 to 0.412, 2 vs 0 time points; β = 0.361, 95% CI: 0.201 to 0.520, ≥3 vs 0 time points) were associated with higher memory scores in 2014/15, but not subsequent rate of memory decline. Moving from a lower-skill to higher-skill occupation was associated with higher memory function, but a faster rate of decline over 2014-22.

conclusionsSustained mid-life employment, particularly in higher-skill occupations, may contribute to later-life memory function in this post-Apartheid South African setting.

Indexed as

AgingCognitionEmploymentHumansLongitudinal StudiesRural PopulationSouth AfricaEmploymentmemory ageingolder adultsSouth Africa

Identifiers

PMID38365967
PMCPMC10873492

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.