【Does childhood cognition predict dementia risk later in life？】

Does childhood cognition predict dementia risk later in life?

Written by Lisa Templeton

To what extent do factors such as education and socioeconomic position affect our thinking skills and memory over time? Not as much as one might think, a new study suggests.

The study set out to investigate what influences a person's cognitive ability — that is, their ability to think, reason, and remember — over a lifetime.

The researchers hoped that by getting an insight into what impacts people's cognitive ability, they might be able to shed some light on factors that lead to cognitive decline in later life, including Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Dementia, which affects around 5.8 million people in the United States, can cause a decline in a person's ability to solve problems, remember, speak, and think. In its most severe form, dementia has a significant impact on a person's ability to carry out daily tasks.

But what if there was a way to understand the factors that may affect cognitive decline? Predicting what may influence cognitive health in later life could help stave off cognitive impairment.

The results of the study now appear in the journal Neurology. Its authors set out to compare the results of thinking and memory tests in people at 8 years old and 70 years old.

The researchers looked at 502 people who had all been born in the same week in 1946. They had all taken cognitive tests at age 8 and again at ages 69–71.

The researchers behind the new study were looking for factors that might serve to predict thinking and memory performance later in life, such as education level and socioeconomic status.

"Finding these predictors is important," says study author Jonathan M. Schott, of University College London in the United Kingdom.

"If we can understand what influences an individual's cognitive performance in later life, we can determine which aspects might be modifiable by education or lifestyle changes like exercise, diet, or sleep, which may, in turn, slow the development of cognitive decline."

The participants took a number of tests that measured skills such as memory, language, orientation, and concentration. In one test, for example — which was similar to one they had taken as children — they had to look at geometric shapes and spot the missing piece out of five options.

The researchers looked at sex, childhood ability, education, and socioeconomic status, which they determined by the participants' occupation at age 53.

They found that the ability to think as a child tallied with the scores they achieved over 60 years later. Those who performed in the top 25% as children, for example, were likely to hold their position in the top 25% at 70 years of age.