Maintaining a healthy lifestyle may be associated with better cognitive function in older adults, even for those with signs of dementia in their brains, according to an NIA-funded study. The findings, published in JAMA Neurology, suggest that healthy lifestyle factors may provide protection against dementia.
Researchers from the Rush University Medical Center and Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center analyzed data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), an ongoing long-term study on aging and dementia. Participants have regular physical and cognitive evaluations, complete annual surveys, and agree to donate their brains for dementia research at death. For the current study, researchers examined data from 586 MAP participants followed for up to 24 years between 1997 and 2022. On average, the participants lived 90.9 years; 71% were women, and 29% were men.
MAP participants were assigned lifestyle scores based on responses to five lifestyle factors, including diet, physical activity (e.g. walking, swimming, and yard work), cognitively stimulating activities (e.g. reading and playing games), alcohol intake, and smoking history. For each factor, participants scored a one if they met the criteria for low risk or healthy and a zero if they did not. After individual scores were added up, each participant received a final score between zero and five, with a higher score indicating a healthier lifestyle.
Next, researchers investigated the association between participants’ lifestyle scores and most recent cognitive function scores before death. They also examined brain autopsy data for common pathologies linked to dementia, including beta-amyloid, tau tangles, vascular damage, Lewy bodies, and TDP-43. They found that higher lifestyle scores were associated with better cognitive functioning; specifically, for every one-point increase in lifestyle score, results showed a 0.22 increase in cognitive function score. Additionally, a healthier lifestyle score was associated with better cognition even after accounting for the combined burden of brain pathologies. The findings suggest that targeting lifestyle factors could help preserve cognitive function in older adults, even for those with dementia-related brain pathologies.
For more information on how a healthy lifestyle is linked with better cognitive function in older adults, from the National Institute on Aging, CLICK HERE.
