Natural Pattern of Cognitive Aging

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Novotný, Jan S.^a | Gonzalez-Rivas, Juan P.^{b; c} | Vassilaki, Maria^d | Krell-Roesch, Janina^{d; e} | Geda, Yonas E.^f | Stokin, Gorazd B.^{a; g; h; *}

Affiliations: [a] Translational Neuroscience and Aging Program, Centre for Translational Medicine, International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne’s University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic | [b] Kardiovize Study, International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne’s University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic | [c] Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA | [d] Division of Epidemiology, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences and Department of Neurosciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA | [e] Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany | [f] Division of Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Program, Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA | [g] Department of Neurosciences, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA | [h] Division of Neurology, University Medical Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Gorazd B. Stokin, MD, PhD, Translational Neuroscience and Aging Program, Centre for Translational Medicine, International Clinical Research Centre, St. Anne’s University Hospital, Pekařská 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic. Tel.: +420 730 526 730; E-mail: gbstokin@alumni.ucsd.edu.; ORCID: 0000-0001-8430-8755

Abstract: Background:Considering the world’s rapidly increasing life expectancy, with people working and maintaining active lifestyles longer than ever before, addressing the effects of aging on cognition is of utmost importance. A greater understanding of cognitive aging may also be critical in distinguishing natural cognitive aging from pre-clinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related cognitive disorders. Objective:To systematically examine the association between aging and cognitive performance in a cognitively and otherwise healthy probability population-based sample using a computer-based method. Methods:This cross-sectional study enrolled 673 cognitively and otherwise healthy participants aged 25–89 years (mean age 52.3±14.2 years, 52.5% of whom were female) from the Kardiovize study cohort. Mild cognitive impairment and dementia cases were excluded, followed by measurement of cognitive performance with the computer-administered Cogstate Brief Battery. We used ANCOVA and Modified Signed-Likelihood Ratio tests to examine patterns of cognition across age groups. Results:We found a gradual decrease in cognitive performance across the lifespan, which required two decades to demonstrate significant changes. In contrast to attention and learning, psychomotor speed and working memory showed the most significant age-related decrease and variability in performance. The established pattern of cognitive aging was not altered by sex or education. Conclusion:These findings corroborate, validate, and extend the current understanding of natural cognitive aging and pinpoint specific cognitive domains with the most extensive age-related interindividual differences. This will contribute to the development of strategies to preserve cognition with aging and may also serve to improve early diagnostics of cognitive disorders using computer-based methods.

Keywords: Aging, Alzheimer’s disease, cognition, physiology, pre-clinical diagnostics

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220312

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 88, no. 3, pp. 1147-1155, 2022