An Online Population-Representative Longitudinal Cognitive Dataset from the Understanding America Study

Details

• Journal Article:
  Scientific Data
• Personal Author:
  Gatz, Margaret ; Darling, Jill E. ; Schneider, Stefan ; Liu, Ying ; Finkel, Deborah ; Orriens, Bart ; Hernandez, Raymond ; Gutsche,Tania ; Garcia, Yadira ; Kapteyn, Arie
• Description:
  Cognitive epidemiology explores cognitive ability as a risk factor for various health and disease-related outcomes. To support research in this area, the Understanding America Study (UAS)-a nationally representative online probability sample-has developed and collected longitudinal assessments of multiple cognitive domains (e.g., fluid intelligence, executive function, processing speed, verbal episodic memory). These assessments have been compiled into the Cognitive Comprehensive File (CogCF), a publicly available resource of cognitive test data for over 21,000 adults aged 18 years and older. While valuable on its own, the CogCF may also be linked to an extensive range of other publicly available data collected in the UAS, including the complete Health and Retirement Study survey instrument and additional surveys on topics such as job history, personality, financial and psychological wellbeing, healthcare usage, and physical and mental health. These data enable researchers to examine critical questions such as the associations of cognitive ability with everyday life outcomes and factors associated with cognitive changes over the life course.
• Subjects:
  Aging Cognition Dementia Mental Health Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Cognitive Ageing; Dementia; Epidemiology; Working Memory Cognitive Function; Longitudinal Study; Population Based Studies; Wellbeing; Mental Health; Life Stages; Epidemiology; Health Surveys; Aging;
• Source:
  Sci Data 2026 Mar; :[Epub ahead of print]
• ISSN:
  2052-4463
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; San Francisco Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  25 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071314
• Contact Point Address:
  Raymond Hernandez, Dornsife Center for Economic & Social Research, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Email:
  hern939@usc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  University of Southern California
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20240901
• End Date:
  20270831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b9bf38f6cc14859b1d1943bd5265b977fa59949a402dd50b483a32b0f4dfa45ff6d5a8fe489cac072ee57340d38f97698d69b4c7fc8691dc7b9578c8dc072256
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258790/cdc_258790_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.18 MB ]