Serious cognitive problems see abrupt drop among older people, study says [View all]
Good news from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Why is interesting (last paragraph at link).
BY KATIE CAMERO
DECEMBER 27, 2021 1:44 PM
There was an “abrupt decline” in the percentage of older Americans reporting serious problems with concentration, memory and decision making over a decade — particularly among women, according to a new study. Researchers are heralding the findings as “very welcome” news.
From 2008 to 2017, the percentage of adults ages 65 and older in the U.S. with serious cognitive issues dropped from 12.2% to 10%, researchers from Canada found. In a hypothetical scenario without the decline, about an additional 1.1 million older people in the U.S. would have reported experiencing mental congestion.
And older women appeared to drive much of the plunge. Serious cognitive problems declined 23% over a decade among women in the age group, compared to 13% among men, the study published last month in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found.
“We were astonished to see the prevalence of cognitive impairment decrease so sharply over such a short period of time,” study lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, director of the University of Toronto’s Institute for Life Course & Aging, said in a news release posted Dec. 23. “This decline in the prevalence of serious cognitive problems has a cascade of benefits for older adults, their families and caregivers, the health and long-term care system and the whole U.S. economy.”
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article256868217.html#storylink=cpy
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