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U.S. Cognitive Impairment Declines

Posted on: Thursday, 21 February 2008, 15:01 CST

A U.S. study of 11,000 adults age 70 and over found cognitive impairment declined from 12.2 percent to 8.7 percent from 1993 to 2002.

Lead author Dr. Kenneth Langa and Dr. Allison Rosen, both of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Mich., used data from the Health and Retirement Study, a national survey of U.S. seniors age 70 and over. The researchers found the prevalence of cognitive impairment -- significant memory loss to dementia and Alzheimer's disease -- went down from 1993 to 2002.

The reasons for this decline aren't fully known, but the study authors said today's older adults are much likelier to have had more formal education, higher economic status, and better care for risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking that can jeopardize their brains.

We know cardiovascular health has a close link with brain health, Langa said in a statement. So what we may be seeing here is the accumulated effects of better education and better cardiovascular prevention among the people who were over age 70 in 2002, compared with those who were over age 70 in 1993.

The findings are published online in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Source: United Press International

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