Frequently engaging in “cognitively stimulating activities” may delay the onset of dementia

People with a “cognitively active lifestyle” delayed the onset of dementia for up to 5 years compared to people with low levels of cognitive activity, according to the results of a longitudinal cohort study published in Neurology.

“The good news is, it’s never too late to start doing the types of affordable and inexpensive activities we looked at in our study.” Robert S. Wilson, PhD, professor in the department of neurological sciences at Rush Medical College and neuropsychologist at Rush University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, said in a press release. “Our results suggest that starting to do these things, even at age 80, may be beneficial in delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia.”

Wilson and colleagues set out to determine whether increased levels of cognitive activity predicted advanced age at dementia onset in Alzheimer’s disease in older people without dementia. The 1,903 seniors included in the analysis indicated how often they engaged in “cognitively stimulating activities” such as reading and had annual clinical exams to diagnose dementia as well as AD. Researchers performed neuropathological analyzes on the deceased. They also examined the association between baseline cognitive activity and age at diagnosis of incident dementia linked to AD and postmortem markers of AD and other dementias.

Over a mean 6.8 year follow-up period, researchers reported incident diagnoses of AD in 457 people (mean age at diagnosis, 88.6 years; range, 64.1 to 106.5 years ). A “prolonged accelerated time to failure model” demonstrated that an increased level of baseline cognitive activity (mean, 3.2) correlated with advanced age at onset of AD dementia (estimate = 0.026; 95% CI, 0.013-0.039). Researchers found that a decrease in cognitive activity (score = 2.1; 10th percentile) was linked to a mean age at disease onset of 88.6 years compared to a mean age at disease onset. age 93.6 compared to more cognitive activity (score = 4; 90th percentile). Subsequent analyzes adjusted for potential confounding factors showed similar results.

The researchers also performed neuropathological examinations on 695 deceased patients, according to the results of the study. These examinations showed that cognitive activity was “unrelated” to postmortem markers of AD and other dementias, such as amyloid and tau protein deposits.

Wilson and his colleagues noted that the study’s results were based on a group of predominantly white individuals with higher levels of education, limiting their conclusions, according to the press release. Therefore, future research should examine whether the results apply to the general population.

“Our study shows that people who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities may delay the age at which they develop dementia,” Wilson said in the press release. “It is important to note that after taking into account the level of cognitive activity at the end of life, neither education nor cognitive activity at the beginning of life was associated with the age at which a person has developed [AD] dementia. Our research suggests that the link between cognitive activity and the age at which a person has developed dementia is primarily determined by the activities you do later in life.

Reference:

American Academy of Neurology. Think about this: keeping your brain active can delay Alzheimer’s dementia for 5 years. Available at: https://www.newswise.com/articles/think-about-this-keeping-your-brain-active-may-delay-alzheimer-s-dementia-5-years. Accessed July 13, 2021.