Researchers at the University College of London (Great Britain) compared the results of tests of memory and thinking that children, then aged 8, had carried out in 1954, with those of tests carried out today by these children become seniors. They discovered similarities between the tests carried out by children and seniors.
“For example, a child whose cognitive performance was in the top 25% remains in the top 25% at age 70” underlines this study published in the journal Neurology.
Identify risks that can be modified over the course of a lifetime
A total of 502 people born in the same week in 1946 underwent a cognitive assessment between the ages of 69 and 71. A test, similar to one they had done as children, involved looking at various arrangements of geometric shapes and identifying the missing piece from among five options. Other tests assessed skills such as memory, attention, orientation and verbal fluency. Level of education and socio-economic status were also taken into account.
“Understanding what influences cognitive impairment in old age is important if we want to determine the factors that may be modifiable over the course of life,” said Professor Jonathan Schott, lead author of the study.
After the cognitive tests, the participants had a positron emission tomography (PET) to determine if they had beta-amyloid plaques in the brain (one of the clinical signs associated with Alzheimer’s disease). Those with these plaques in the brain also had lower scores on cognitive tests.
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