The association between memory, COVID-19 testing, and COVID-19 incidence in middle-aged and older adults: a prospective analysis of the CLSA

ABSTRACT

We investigated the association between pre-COVID-19 memory function and (a) receipt of a COVID-19 test and (b) incidence of COVID-19 using the COVID-19 Questionnaire Study (CQS) of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). The CQS included 28,565 middle-aged and older adults. We regressed receipt of a COVID-19 test on participants’ immediate and delayed recall memory scores and re-ran the regression models with COVID-19 incidence as the outcome. All regression models were adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and health covariates. In the analytical sample (n = 21,930), higher delayed recall memory (better memory) was significantly associated with lower COVID-19 incidence. However, this association was not significant for immediate recall memory. Immediate and delayed recall memory were not associated with receipt of a COVID-19 test. Health policymakers and practitioners may viewmemory status as a potential risk for COVID-19. Memory status may not be a barrier to COVID-19 testing.

KEYWORDS:

• Canadian longitudinal study on aging
• COVID-19
• incidence
• memory
• testing

Acknowledgments

This research was made possible using the data/biospecimens collected by the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Funding for the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is provided by the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) under grant reference: LSA 94473 and the Canada Foundation for Innovation, as well as the following provinces, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia. This research has been conducted using the CLSA COVID-19 Combined v1.0, Baseline Comprehensive v7.0, Follow-up 1 Comprehensive v3.2, and Follow-up 1 Tracking v3.1, under Application Number 2104044. The CLSA is led by Drs. Parminder Raina, Christina Wolfson and Susan Kirkland. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Study funding and data access

The analysis of CLSA data reported in this paper was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research under grant number MM1–174917. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, data analyzes, data interpretation or writing of the report. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Further, the corresponding author had the right to publish all data, separate and apart from the guidance of the sponsor. The corresponding author takes full responsibility for the data, the analyzes and interpretation, and the conduct of the research.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (www.clsa-elcv.ca) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to de-identified CLSA data.

Author contributions

Colleen J. Maxwell: Methodology, Writing – Review and Editing. Leilei Zeng: Methodology, Writing – Review and Editing. Mark Oremus: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft, Funding Acquisition. Nancy Newall: Writing – Review and Editing. Suzanne L. Tyas: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Review and Editing, Funding Acquisition.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for support of the CLSA COVID-19 questionnaire-based study is provided by the Juravinski Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, the Provost Fund from McMaster University, the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, the Public Health Agency of Canada/CIHR grant reference CMO 174125 and the government of Nova Scotia.