Smaller life space linked to greater risk of cognitive decline

June, 2011

A study of healthy seniors reveals that homebodies have faster cognitive decline and more risk of developing Alzheimer’s and MCI, than those who have a wider life-space.

Growing evidence has pointed to the benefits of social and mental stimulation in preventing dementia, but until now no one has looked at the role of physical environment.

A study involving 1294 healthy older adults found that those whose life-space narrowed to their immediate home were almost twice as likely to develop the condition as those with the largest life-space (out-of-town). The homebound also had an increased risk of MCI and a faster rate of global cognitive decline.

By the end of the eight-year study (average follow-up of 4.4 years), 180 people (13.9%) had developed Alzheimer’s. The association remained after physical function, disability, depressive symptoms, social network size, vascular disease burden, and vascular risk factors, were taken into account.

It may be that life-space is an indicator of how engaged we are with the world, with the associated cognitive stimulation that offers.

Reference: 

Related News

Studies linking head trauma with increased risk and earlier age of onset for Alzheimer's disease have yielded contradictory results.

A survey of 7,072 older adults in six provinces across China, with one rural and one urban community in each province, has identified 359 older adults with dementia and 328 with depression.

A survey of 7796 older adults (65+) living in three geographic areas in England has allowed us to compare dementia rates over time, with an identical survey having been taken between 1989 and 1994. The overall prevalence of dementia fell significantly, from 8.3% to 6.5%.

A large Danish study comparing two groups of nonagenarians born 10 years apart has found that not only were people born in 1915 nearly a third (32%) more likely to reach the age of 95 than those in the 1905 cohort, but members of the group born in 1915 performed significantly better on tests of

A five-year study involving 525 older adults (70+) found 46 had Alzheimer’s or aMCI and a further 28 went on to develop the conditions.

A three-year study involving 152 adults aged 50 and older, of whom 52 had been recently diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and 31 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, has found that those with mild or no cognitive impairment who initially had amyloid-beta plaques showed greater cogniti

More evidence for early changes in the eye in Alzheimer’s disease comes from a study involving both rats and postmortem human retinas.

Blocking a receptor involved in inflammation in the brains of mice with severe Alzheimer’s produced marked recovery in blood flow and vascular reactivity, a dramatic reduction in toxic amyloid-beta, and significant improvements in learning and memory.

A multi-year study involving 207 healthy older adults, in which their spinal fluids were repeatedly sampled and their brains repeatedly scanned, has found that disruptions in the default mode network emerges about the same time as chemical markers of Alzheimer’s appear in the spinal fluid (decre

An analysis of the anatomical connectivity in the brains of 15 people with Alzheimer's disease, 68 with mild cognitive impairment and 28 healthy older individuals, has found several measures showed disease effects:

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news