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Publications [#272359] of Christopher L. Edwards

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Papers Published

  1. Whitfield, KE; Kiddoe, J; Gamaldo, A; Andel, R; Edwards, CL (2009). Concordance rates for cognitive impairment among older African American twins.. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 5(3), 276-279. [19426952], [doi]
    (last updated on 2018/03/18)

    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: There is significant attention to the growing elderly African American population and estimating who and how many within this population will be affected by cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE: The etiology of cognitive impairment has not been well studied in African Americans and the contribution of genetic and environmental influences to cognitive impairment is not clear. METHODS: We calculated concordance rates and heritability for cognitive impairment in 95 same-sexed pairs of African American twins from the Carolina African American Twin Study on Aging (CAATSA). The sample had an average age of 59.6 years (SD = 8.6 years, range 50-88 years) and 60% were female. The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) was used to assess cognitive impairment with a lower cutoff based on our previous research with African Americans. RESULTS: Thirteen of the monozygotic (MZ) twins (30.2%) and 9 of the dizygotic (DZ) twins (17.3%) were cognitively impaired. The concordance rate was 72% for MZ and 45% for DZ. We found the heritability for cognitive impairment to be 54%. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings indicate that cognitive impairment is highly heritable, suggesting that genetics may play a relatively large role in the development of cognitive impairment in African American twins.


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