Population‐level study of older adults identifies risk factors for cognitive decline

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In older adults with abdominal obesity (excess belly fat), sustained elevations of blood sugar were linked to a higher likelihood of experiencing cognitive decline. In older adults without abdominal obesity, the hormone adiponectin appeared to be a likely risk factor for cognitive decline. The study, which is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society , included 478 individuals aged 65 years or older who were examined annually for 10 years, with funding from the National Institute on Aging. The findings--which were only observed among those younger than 87 to 88 years old--may eventually point to different strategies for preventing cognitive decline in different groups of older adults. This was population-level research, and the next steps should be in-depth clinical and laboratory studies to fully understand the biological mechanisms underlying the associations that we observed." Mary Ganguli, MD, MPH, lead author, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Source: Wiley Journal reference: Ganguli, M., et al. (2020) Aging, Diabetes, Obesity, and Cognitive Decline: A Population‐Based Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16321 .