Perceived weight discrimination and performance in five domains of cognitive function

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Weight discrimination is linked to adverse health outcomes, including cognitive impairment.
• Previous research suggests a connection between perceived unfair treatment and health, but specific cognitive impacts require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between weight discrimination and cognitive performance across five domains.
• To investigate if other discrimination types (age, gender, race) similarly affect cognition.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 2593 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP).
• Cognitive assessment across episodic memory, speed-attention, visuospatial ability, language, and numeric reasoning.
• Self-reported experiences of discrimination were collected.

Main Results:

• Weight discrimination was associated with a two-fold increased risk of poor performance in episodic memory, speed-attention, visuospatial ability, and numeric reasoning.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) showed little relation to cognitive performance.
• Gender and race discrimination had specific, but generally weaker, associations with cognitive domains compared to weight discrimination.

Conclusions:

• Weight discrimination is specifically linked to deficits in multiple cognitive domains in older adults.
• The impact of discrimination on cognition is attribution- and domain-specific.