According to a new study, the incidence of cognitive impairment in the United States has decreased significantly compared to the past decade. The study is published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The findings from the study found a sharp decline in the prevalence of cognitive impairment among American adults aged 65 and over compared to the same age group a decade earlier. In 2008, 12.2% of America’s older population reported having severe cognitive impairment or difficulty. In 2017, this percentage drops to 10. If the frequency of these changes had been maintained since 2008, the number of people affected in 2017 would have increased by 1.13 million. The study included 5.4 million people with different lifestyles and from different communities. Participants are aged 65 and over. During the study, they reported to the researchers whether or not they had serious difficulties concentrating, remembering or making decisions. From the results, it is noticed that in women, the frequency of cognitive disorders decreased by 23% percent in the last decade, while in men this rate was 13. The researchers conducted additional analyzes on separate groups of men and women of different age groups – 65-69, 70 -74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89 and those over 90 years of age. A statistically significant decrease in the prevalence of cognitive disorders was observed in all groups, except for men in the 65-69 year old group. According to the scientists leading the study, the lower decline in these changes is due to differences in education between different generations. Previous large-scale research has concluded that with each additional year of formal education, people’s risk of developing dementia is reduced. Despite these explanations, the decline in the incidence of cognitive impairment cannot be fully explained by generational differences in educational attainment. According to scientists, various factors contribute to these results – the improvement of diet and products over generations, the reduction of smoking, the gradual elimination of leaded gasoline and others. Sources: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad210561