Predictors of attrition in a longitudinal cognitive aging study: the Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS).

Full Abstract

A large sample of older participants of the Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS) were compared to drop-outs at the 3-year follow-up with respect to socio-demographic, health, and cognitive characteristics. In addition, the impact of selective drop-out on measures of cognitive change was examined. To this end, hypothetical scores were estimated for drop-outs by using single and multiple imputation methods. Of the initial sample of 539 subjects, aged 49 years and older at baseline, 116 (22 %) did not return for the follow-up (n = 32 had died, n = 84 refused participation). Drop-outs who refused to participate in the follow-up were more often women, had lower educational levels, and had lower baseline scores on neurocognitive tests. Follow-up drop-outs who had died were more often men, older, and had a poorer performance on cognitive tests than the follow-up participants. Although follow-up participants and drop-outs differed in terms of socio-demographic and cognitive characteristics, attrition appeared to have little effect on the estimates of cognitive change.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Van Beijsterveldt, C E M (CE); van Boxtel, M P J (MP); Bosma, H (H); Houx, P J (PJ); Buntinx, F (F); Jolles, J (J);

Affiliation: European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Universiteit Maastricht, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of clinical epidemiology (J Clin Epidemiol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Mar; vol 55 (issue 3) : pp 216-23

Dates: Created 2002/02/26; Completed 2002/03/28; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 11864790, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.