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Background: A brain healthy lifestyle, consisting of good cardiometabolic health and being cognitively and socially active in midlife, is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline years later. However, it is unclear whether lifestyle changes over time also affect the risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/dementia, and rate of cognitive decline.
Objectives: To investigate if lifestyle changes over time are associated with incident MCI/dementia risk and rate of cognitive decline.
Design: Population-based prospective cohort study SETTING: Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Study cohort (Australia).
Participants: 4,777 participants (50.4% women), recruited between 2000 and 2002, who were 40-44 and 60-64 years old at baseline, without a prevalent dementia diagnosis. Participants had to have cognitive outcome measures available after baseline.
Measurements: Various measurements (neurocognitive assessment, blood pressure) and survey responses (demographics, cognitive, social, and physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, body height and weight, depression, and previous diagnoses) were collected approximately every four years. A brain-healthy lifestyle was operationalized via two well-validated modifiable dementia risk scores, the LIfestyle for BRAin health (LIBRA) score and the modifiable part of the Australian National University Alzheimer's Disease Risk Index (ANU-ADRI). Their change over time was estimated using latent growth curve modelling, and their association with cognition and incidence of MCI/dementia was investigated using parallel process modelling and Cox regression analysis.
Results: Within those aged 60-64 years at baseline (n=2,409), 211 cases of incident MCI/dementia were recorded over a median follow-up time of 12.2 years. On average, individuals' LIBRA and ANU-ADRI increased (i.e., worsened) over time, but individuals whose scores increased one standard deviation (SD) less had a 19.0-24.6% lower risk for MCI/dementia (hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): LIBRA=0.754 (0.664-0.857), ANU-ADRI=0.810 (0.71-0.915)), while controlling for the risk score at baseline and multiple potential confounders. Various associations between dementia risk score trajectories and cognitive performance trajectories were observed.
Conclusions: Efforts to maintain a brain healthy lifestyle could reduce the risk for MCI or dementia, and slow cognitive decline.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12183925 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tjpad.2024.100014 | DOI Listing |
Gerontologist
September 2025
Department of Child Development and Family Studies, College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Background And Objectives: Volunteering has cognitive benefits in later life and has been theorized to protect against Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). A small but growing body of volunteer programs target people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)-who are presumably at elevated risk for ADRD, but we know surprisingly little about who volunteers with MCI and how volunteering affects their subsequent cognitive changes. The current study sought to address these gaps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
September 2025
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
Background: Grip strength and gait speed are key markers of physical functional capacity and general health in older people. This study aimed to examine the effect of low-dose aspirin on hand-grip strength and habitual gait speed in relatively healthy older people.
Methods: The ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) trial randomized 19,114 community-dwelling Australians and U.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
September 2025
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
Background: Poor olfaction may be associated with incident heart failure (HF) in older adults, but empirical evidence is scant.
Methods: We included 5,217 participants free of clinical HF and with a smell assessment in 2011-2013 from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Olfaction was measured by the 12-item Sniffin' Sticks odor identification test and defined as good (score 11-12), moderate (9-10), or poor (≤8).
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
September 2025
Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Objectives: In this study, we examined the extent to which older adult social activity participation and perceptions of neighborhoods correspond with risks of cognitive impairment and no dementia (CIND) and dementia.
Methods: We predicted the risk of both CIND and dementia in a series of Cox proportional hazards analyses among older adults across a ten-year period. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, N = 15,020), we examined whether social activity participation corresponded with reduced risk of CIND and dementia, as well as whether perceptions of neighborhood conditions, social cohesion, and neighborhood disorder moderated the effects of social activity participation.
J Alzheimers Dis
September 2025
Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
BackgroundFear of developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias could motivate defensive responses to dementia information, including public health messaging, and reduce willingness to undergo screening or diagnostic testing for the disease.ObjectiveWe sought to assess the pervasiveness of dementia information avoidance and test whether it is associated with lower willingness to be screened for dementia. We also tested whether lower generalized self-efficacy is associated with higher dementia information avoidance, as the former might be a point of intervention for decreasing defensive information avoidance.
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