Many people expect memory to fade as a normal part of aging. Yet some older adults, called SuperAgers, reach their 80s and 90s with memory abilities that match or even exceed those of people in their 50s and 60s.
Scientists have spent nearly 20 years identifying the biological, neurological, and psychosocial traits linked to SuperAgers. One major question, however, has remained unresolved: Are SuperAgers simply people who inherited unusually low genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease?
"If that were true, identifying SuperAgers might be as simple as performing genetic testing rather than the comprehensive cognitive evaluations we currently use," said Emily Rogalski, PhD, director of the Healthy Aging & Alzheimer's Research Care (HAARC) Center at the University of Chicago, who established the definition of SuperAging in 2008 and has been studying this remarkable population ever since.
Testing the Genetic Explanation for SuperAging
To investigate that possibility, researchers analyzed the largest prospectively enrolled SuperAging cohorts studied with the latest measures of genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. The results, published in Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, indicate that extraordinary memory in later life cannot be explained solely by low inherited Alzheimer's risk. The findings highlight the need to study the protective mechanisms that may help some people maintain unusually strong cognitive abilities.
