ArticleJournal of the American Medical Directors Association2026
Coevolution of Cognitive and Health Trajectories Among US Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment.
Article in Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesUnderstanding how multiple health aspects coevolve over time in persons with cognitive impairment is critical for clinical care, yet few studies have examined these dynamic interplays. This study investigated the relationship between perceived health status trajectories and cognitive trajectories in PCIs, providing novel insights into how broader health dynamics influence cognitive decline.
designThis is a secondary data analysis with a national representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States. SETTING AND
participantsData were from 2569 persons with cognitive impairment in the 2011-2021 National Health and Aging Trends Survey.
methodsBayesian dual-trajectory modeling was used to identify distinct trajectories of perceived health and cognition. We examined their sociodemographic and health correlates of each trajectory. Conditional probabilities were estimated to determine how belonging to a specific health status trajectory group influences the likelihood of being in a particular cognitive trajectory group.
resultsWe identified 5 distinct trajectory groups for health status and cognition. Most participants (73%) exhibited high- to medium-baseline health with stable or moderate decline, 14.2% experienced sharp decline after a high baseline, and 12.9% started low with moderate decline. For cognition, 69.2% showed high-to-medium initial levels with stable or slight decline, 23.6% showed moderate decline, and 7.2% had a low and stable trajectory. Respondents with the most favorable health status trajectories were more likely to have the best cognitive trajectory, whereas those with sharp declining health status experienced worse cognition, despite higher baseline health levels. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Stable health trajectories are strongly linked to better cognitive outcomes, whereas sharp health declines predict poorer cognition. Our findings highlight the interconnected biological and behavioral pathways through which health changes may accelerate or mitigate cognitive deterioration, offering insights for targeted interventions and holistic care for persons with cognitive impairment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.