Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39801502›Full record

ArticleSSM - population health2025

The dual impact of education and occupation on cognitive functioning in older Mexican adults: A cross-sectional exploratory study.

José Eduardo Cabrero Castro, Mariela Gutierrez, Theresa Andrasfay, Emma Aguila, Brian Downer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in SSM - population health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

5 authors.

José Eduardo Cabrero CastroDepartment of Population Health & Health Disparities, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX, USA.
Mariela GutierrezSchool of Public and Population Health, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX, USA.
Theresa AndrasfayDepartment of Public Health, California State University San Marcos, 333 S Twin Oaks Valley Rd, San Marcos, CA, USA.
Emma AguilaSol Price School of Public of Policy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA.
Brian DownerDepartment of Population Health & Health Disparities, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX, USA.

Funding

UTMB OAIC Research Education Component (REC)P30AG024832 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BR GALVESTON · PI JAMES S. GOODWIN, MD, MELISSA M. MORROW · 2005 to 2026
$26.7M
The Mexican Health and Aging Study - IIR01AG018016 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · PI Rebeca Wong · 1999 to 2026
$22.6M
The Texas Resource Center on Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)P30AG059301 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · PI Kyriakos S Markides, Fernando Riosmena · 2018 to 2026
$5.2M
The influence of social and cultural context on life course pathways for Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and care resources for older Mexican adultsRF1AG068988 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · PI DOWNER, BRIAN GREGORY · 2021 to 2021
$1.0M
The influence of social and cultural context on life course pathways for Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and care resources for older Mexican adultsR01AG068988 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · PI DOWNER, BRIAN GREGORY · 2024 to 2025
$632k
The Influence of Lifetime Occupational Experience on Cognitive Trajectories Among Mexican Older AdultsF31AG084149 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · PI GUTIERREZ, MARIELA A · 2023 to 2025
$75k
NIA NIH HHS F31 AG084149NIA NIH HHS P30 AG024832NIA NIH HHS P30 AG059301NIA NIH HHS R01 AG018016NIA NIH HHS R01 AG068988NIA NIH HHS RF1 AG068988
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This research investigated the relationship between cognitive performance and an individual's educational attainment as well as occupational mental demands among Mexican adults aged 50 or older. We hypothesized that cognitively demanding work boosts cognitive performance for older adults regardless of their education level. To test our hypothesis, we analyzed data on 12,939 individuals in the 2012 Mexican Health and Aging Study using a Generalized Linear Model with a Gaussian family and identity link function. We assessed cognitive demands of occupations with the National Information Network's descriptors, focusing on worker-oriented and job-oriented mental demands. We found that greater worker-oriented (β = 0.5; CI = 0.45, 0.55) and job-oriented (β = 0.49; CI = 0.45, 0.53) mental demands predicted better cognitive performance. Educational attainment correlated even more strongly with better cognitive performance (β = 0.9; CI = 0.87, 0.92). Both our models showed a statistically significant negative interaction between medium occupational mental demands and medium education level (job-oriented: β = -0.09; CI = -0.14, -0.05; worker-oriented: β = -0.07; CI = -0.12, -0.02). Other interaction terms were not significant. This study highlighted a significant effect of educational attainment on cognitive function, which is more pronounced than that of occupational mental demands. The association of higher occupational mental demands with higher cognitive function appeared to be largely independent of educational background. The similarity in cognitive scores using worker-oriented or job-oriented metrics suggests that both are useful for assessing occupational mental demands. Education and cognitive engagement at work are crucial for promoting cognitive health in aging populations.

Indexed as

Cognitive functionEducational attainmentOccupation

Identifiers

PMID39801502
PMCPMC11721833

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.