Are we there yet? Estimating the waves of follow-up required for stable effect estimates in cognitive aging research - Takeaways - MDSpire

Are we there yet? Estimating the waves of follow-up required for stable effect estimates in cognitive aging research

  • By

  • Mary C Thoma

  • Jingxuan Wang

  • Elizabeth Rose Mayeda

  • Charles E McCulloch

  • Eleanor Hayes-Larson

  • Jacqueline M Torres

  • M Maria Glymour

  • March 7, 2025

  • 0 min

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  • 1

    Cognitive aging studies require longitudinal data, but longer follow-up periods increase costs and may not always yield significantly different estimates.

  • 2

    Shorter follow-up periods (less than 4 waves) yield meaningful differences in cognitive change estimates for adults aged 65-80 compared to full follow-up.

  • 3

    Older adults (over 80 years) show less pronounced differences in cognitive change estimates due to sample attrition affecting data quality.

  • 4

    Modeling cognitive decline using current age provides more precise estimates, especially with shorter follow-up, compared to time-since-baseline.

  • 5

    The study evaluates the impact of follow-up length and timescale specification on bias and precision in cognitive decline estimates using real data.

Original Source(s)

Are we there yet? Estimating the waves of follow-up required for stable effect estimates in cognitive aging research

  • by Mary C Thoma, Jingxuan Wang, Elizabeth Rose Mayeda, Charles E McCulloch, Eleanor Hayes-Larson, Jacqueline M Torres, M Maria Glymour

  • March 7, 2025

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