If your parents live very long lives, your wellbeing is better protected against Alzheimer’s disease. This is according to a new study, published in JAMA Neurology, which warns, however, that even though the sons and daughters of people who live very long lives tend to get the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease later than others, their mental health is not fully immune from the memory-robbing disease.
According to lead researcher Stephanie Cosentino, of the Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, ‘It’s not necessarily that these individuals never become cognitively impaired, but what it seems like is that there is a delayed onset of cognitive impairment.’ The researchers compared people in their 90s, their spouses, siblings, children and their children’s spouses, finding that the offspring of people with exceptional longevity were approximately 40% less likely than peers to be cognitively impaired between ages 65 and 79.
Cosentino explained, ‘These families seem relatively protected, but once they reach extreme old age – say after 90 (years old) – their rates of cognitive impairment become comparable.’ The researchers were unable to say whether a parent’s longevity protected the offspring from becoming cognitively impaired in their 60s and 70s, but Cosentino and her colleagues want to know what makes them different from the others. ‘Our current interest now is understanding the genetic basis of that delay,’ she noted, adding that the hope is they could eventually help others delay memory problems as well.
Mary Sano, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, who was not involved with the new study, commented, ‘This study and other studies have really shown we are moving in the direction of understanding the genetics and biology of successful ageing. I think the reason it’s so promising is because we’ve put a lot of effort into studying diseases to find the silver bullet to prevent disease and very little work goes into people who are less likely to have the disease or less likely to develop the disease. I think looking at this side is critical, because we haven’t had much luck looking the other way.’
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