Scientists from Rush University and elsewhere found a healthy lifestyle can help people live longer with no Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment.
Alzheimer’s disease involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
In the current study, researchers aimed to examine the impact of lifestyle factors on life expectancy lived with and without Alzheimer’s dementia.
They used data from The Chicago Health and Aging Project, a population-based study in the United States. The data were from 2449 men and women aged 65 years and older.
A healthy lifestyle score was developed based on five modifiable lifestyle factors:
A diet for brain health (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay-MIND diet score in the upper 40% of cohort distribution), late-life cognitive activities (composite score in the upper 40%), moderate or vigorous physical activity (≥150 min/week), no smoking, and light to moderate alcohol consumption (women 1-15 g/day; men 1-30 g/day).
The team examined life expectancy with and without Alzheimer’s dementia in women and men.
They found women aged 65 with four or five healthy factors had a life expectancy of 24.2 years and lived 3.1 years longer than women aged 65 with zero or one healthy factor (life expectancy of 21.1 years).
Among the total life expectancy at age 65, women with four or five healthy factors spent 10.8% (2.6 years) of their remaining years with Alzheimer’s dementia, whereas women with zero or one healthy factor spent 19.3% (4.1 years) with the disease.
Life expectancy for women aged 65 without Alzheimer’s dementia and four or five healthy factors was 21.5 years, and for those with zero or one healthy factor, it was 17.0 years.
Men aged 65 with four or five healthy factors had a total life expectancy of 23.1 years, which is 5.7 years longer than men aged 65 with zero or one healthy factor (life expectancy of 17.4 years).
Among the total life expectancy at age 65, men with four or five healthy factors spent 6.1% (1.4 years) of their remaining years with Alzheimer’s dementia, and those with zero or one healthy factor spent 12.0% (2.1 years) with the disease.
Life expectancy for men aged 65 without Alzheimer’s dementia and four or five healthy factors was 21.7 years, and for those with zero or one healthy factor life expectancy was 15.3 years.
Based on the findings, the researchers suggest a healthy lifestyle is linked to a longer life expectancy among men and women, and they live a larger proportion of their remaining years without Alzheimer’s dementia.
The life expectancy estimates might help health professionals, policymakers, and stakeholders to plan future healthcare services, costs, and needs.
The research was published in The BMJ and conducted by Klodian Dhana et al.
If you care about brain health, please read studies about how the Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and Strawberries could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about Vitamin D deficiency linked to higher dementia risk, and these antioxidants could help reduce dementia risk.
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