Study Suggests Mentally Stimulating Activities May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk

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http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2002/nia-12.htm

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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

National Institute on Aging

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EMBARGOED BY JOURNAL

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

4:00 p.m. EST Contact: Vicky Cahane

" Use It Or Lose It? "

Study Suggests Mentally Stimulating Activities

May Reduce Alzheimer's Risk

In recent years, many of us have come to believe that doing crossword

puzzles or playing cards might ward off a decline in memory or help us

maintain " brainpower " as we age. Now, a new study suggests there might be

some truth to the use-it-or-lose-it hypothesis.

The study, by scientists at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and

Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, IL, appearing in the

February 13, 2002, Journal of the American Medical Association, found that

more frequent participation in cognitively stimulating activities is

associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research

looked at everyday activities like reading books, newspapers or magazines,

engaging in crosswords or card games, and going to museums among

participants in the Religious Orders Study, an ongoing examination of aging

among older Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers from several groups across

the U.S. On a scale measuring cognitive activity - with higher scores

indicating more frequent activity - a one-point increase in cognitive

activity corresponded with a 33 percent reduction in the risk of AD.

The examination of cognitively stimulating activities and risk of AD was

conducted by S. , Ph.D., and colleagues at the Rush Alzheimer's

Disease Center, including A. , M.D., principal investigator for

the Religious Orders Study, and Denis A. , M.D., director of the

National Institute on Aging (NIA)-supported Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center.

The NIA is part of the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health

and Human Services.

The findings are likely to strike a chord among middle-aged and older people

interested in preserving cognitive health. " We are asked constantly about

this use-it-or-lose-it approach to maintaining memory, " says Elisabeth Koss,

Ph.D., Assistant Director of the NIA's Alzheimer's Disease Centers Program.

" This study provides important new evidence that there may be something to

the notion of increased cognitive activity and reduced risk of Alzheimer's

disease. Further research should help better sort out whether cognitive

activities can be prescribed to reduce risk of AD and why that may be so. "

The study followed over 700 dementia-free participants age 65 and older for

an average of 4.5 years from their initial assessments. At baseline and then

yearly, some 21 cognitive tests were administered to assess various aspects

of memory, language, attention, and spatial ability. At the initial

evaluations, participants also were asked about time typically spent in

seven common activities that significantly involve information processing -

viewing television; listening to the radio; reading newspapers or magazines;

reading books; playing games such as cards, checkers, crosswords, or other

puzzles; and going to museums. The frequency of participating in each

activity was rated on a five-point scale, with the highest point assigned to

participating in an activity every day or about every day and the lowest

point to engaging in an activity once a year or less.

During the follow-up period, 111 people in the study developed AD. In

comparing the levels of cognitive activity with diagnosis of AD, the

researchers found that the frequency of activity was related to the risk of

developing AD. For each one point increase in the participants' scores on

the scale of cognitive activities, the risk of developing AD decreased by 33

percent. On average, compared with someone with the lowest activity level,

the risk of disease was reduced by 47 percent among those whose frequency of

activity was highest.

The researchers also looked at general cognitive decline among the

participants. Over the period of the study, the group of older people showed

modest age-related declines on several types of memory and information

processing tests. There were lower rates of decline, however, in working

memory, perceptual speed, and episodic memory among people who did more

cognitively stimulating activities.

What accounts for the association between cognitively stimulating activities

and reduced risk of cognitive decline and AD is unclear. It may be, some

scientists theorize, that cognitive activities are protective in some way.

Some speculate that repetition might improve the efficiency of certain

cognitive skills and make them less vulnerable to the brain damage in AD.

Or, some kind of compensatory mechanisms might be at work, strengthening

information processing skills to help compensate for age-related declines in

other cognitive areas. The study does not, however, eliminate the

possibility that people who develop AD in future years may be less prone,

years before, to engage in cognitively stimulating activities. Notes ,

" The associations among cognitive activity, Alzheimer's disease, and

cognitive function are extremely complex. Additional study, including

testing some of these activities as cognitive interventions, will help to

tell us whether such enjoyable and easy-to-do activities could be employed

in some way to reduce the risk of memory decline and loss. " Because the

participants in the study have agreed to brain donation, the investigators

hope to be able to determine the mechanism underlying the association

between cognitive activities and cognitive decline.

More than 900 older Catholic clergy from 40 groups across the U.S. are

participating in the Religious Orders Study. All participants have agreed to

annual memory testing and brain donation at the time of death. " We are

grateful for the remarkable dedication and altruism of this unique group of

people, " says . " I expect we will learn a great deal more from them,

as we look for insights into how the brain functions with age. "

The NIA leads the Federal effort to support and conduct research on aging

and on AD. The Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center is one of 29 NIA-supported

Alzheimer's Disease Centers across the U.S. which conduct basic, clinical,

and social and behavioral research on dementia and AD. NIA also sponsors the

Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center, which provides

information on AD research to the public, health professionals, and the

media. ADEAR can be contacted toll free at 1- weekdays during

business hours or by visiting its website, www.alzheimers.org. Press

releases, fact sheets, and other general information materials on aging and

aging research can be viewed at the NIA's home website, www.nia.nih.gov.

The National Institute on Aging is a component of the National Institutes of

Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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