Age Related Cognitive Decline isn't as Straight-Forward as we Thought
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the effect of several health conditions (heart disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Lewy body disease) on cognitive decline as we age. The results were surprising. The presence of indicators for these conditions (such as plaques for Alzheimer's) accounted for only 41% of cognitive decline in test subjects. This means that cognitive decline in the other 59% of the subjects is due to some unknown factor.
So, age-related cognitive problems aren't necessarily related to just a handful of disorders. The brain is a fascinating organ, and this study demonstrates how much more we have to learn.
An abstract of the article is available here: