Early Life Experiences May Predict Cognitive Status Later in Life

While declining cognitive function with age is a primary personal and public health concern, there is wide variability in the trajectory of cognitive change across the population.  Bruce Reed, from the University of California Davis Alzheimer's Disease Center (California, USA), and colleagues assessed 300 English- or Spanish-speaking men and women, ages 60 years and older, recruited from the general community.  Subjects completed multidisciplinary diagnostic evaluations to assess for Alzheimer’s Disease.  Regardless of ethnicity, advanced age and apolipoprotein-E (APOE genotype, an established risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's) were associated with increased cognitive decline over an average of four years that participants were followed. The team observed that less cognitive decline was experienced by persons who reported more engagement in recreational activities in late life and who maintained their levels of activity engagement from middle age to old age.  Observing that single-word reading—the ability to decode a word on sight, which often is considered an indication of quality of educational experience—also was associated with less cognitive decline, the study authors submit that: “Literacy had robust associations with baseline cognition and cognitive change in both English and Spanish speakers.”