RNS: Cognitive impairment, February 2008
TIME: 2:44
URL: http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2008/hmcognitive.htm
U-M Health Minute: Today’s top health issues and medical research
Good news on gray matter:
Memory loss and other cognitive impairment becoming less common in older Americans, U-M study finds
Better education, finances & cardiovascular care may be boosting brain health
Suggested lead: A new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan offers promising news for older Americans: Fewer seniors are experiencing significant memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Here’s Andi McDonnell with more.
It may still be too soon to sound the death knell for the “senior moment.”
But according to newly published study, there appears to be a downward trend in the rate of cognitive impairment – the umbrella term for everything from moderate memory loss to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – among older Americans.
Lead study author Dr. Kenneth Langa (M.D., Ph.D.), with the Division of General Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, explains…
“There were two main findings from our study. One was that there was a significant decrease in the level of cognitive impairment in the United States among people who are 70 and older between 1993 and 2002, and the way we measured it in this study, that prevalence went from about 12-percent of people who had significant impairment in ’93 down to 9-percent of people who had significant impairment in 2002. The other main finding from the study was we were interested in how long people were living with cognitive impairment and because, again, another important issue when people become impaired, and we actually found that people in the later year, in 2002, once they were impaired were actually more likely to die over 2 years of follow up than the folks in 1993.”
And while the reasons for this decline aren’t yet fully known, Langa and his colleagues say it may be linked to the fact that today’s older people are much more likely to have had more formal education, better economic status, and better care for risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking that can jeopardize their brains.
In fact, the study - published in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia - found those with more formal education and higher levels of personal wealth were less likely to have cognitive problems.
While Langa calls the findings good news for seniors, he says today’s older Americans should not rest on their laurels.
Langa tells us…
“Some of the findings so far seem to show that staying involved and connected to the world really in any way, reading, talking with people, having a sort of rich social network with people who you’re talking with and doing things with, going to religious services, again being connected in some way through volunteering, keeping your brain active really in any way and all ways seems to be protective against these declines in brain health over time. The other important issues seem to be treatment of the cardiovascular risks, so again the things that are bad for your heart also seem to be bad for your brain. So good treatment of high blood pressure later in life, good treatment of high cholesterol, staying physically active, keeping your weight where it should be, all seem to be important in protecting your brain as you age.”
Andi McDonnell, U-M Health System News. |
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