RUSH Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
Age Ageing. 2022 May 1;51(5). doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac102.
to model and compare patterns from mid- to late-life of body mass index (BMI), alternate Mediterranean diet (A-MeDi) and physical activity, between women with exceptional episodic memory over age 80 and cognitively average controls. Our goal was to examine if lifestyle risk factors in early adulthood may be identified which promote exceptional memory status later in life.
a case-control sample nested within the Nurses' Health Study (initiated in 1976), including 7,557 cognitively healthy participants who survived to age 80 and had a cognitive assessment at 80-87 years. We defined women with exceptional memory (n = 455) as those with a composite score of episodic memory ≥1.5 standard deviation above the mean. Then, we selected 2,275 cognitively average controls with a score within 1 standard deviation of the mean, matched by age and education. Patterns of BMI, A-MeDi and physical activity at 52-62 through age 82 years were estimated between groups using latent process mixed models.
In midlife, women with exceptional episodic memory had similar BMI (mean difference [MD] = -0.07 kg/m2 [95% confidence intervals {CI}:-0.41; 0.26]) but better adherence to A-MeDi (MD = +0.25 points [0.08; 0.43]) and more physical activity (MD = +3.50 metabolic-equivalent h/week [1.97; 5.09]) than controls. However, with ageing, both groups had similar patterns; both initially gained and later lost weight, had less activity and declining diet quality (all group-by-time interactions P > 0.07).
our findings suggest that lifestyle factors differ primarily at earlier ages for those with exceptional versus average episodic memory, thus lifestyle may be most important in earlier life to preserve high levels of memory.
构建并比较 80 岁以上具有超常情景记忆能力的女性和认知正常对照者的体质指数（BMI）、交替地中海饮食（A-MeDi）和体力活动从中年到晚年的模式。我们的目标是研究是否可以在年轻时识别出生活方式风险因素，从而促进晚年的超常记忆状态。
本研究是一项巢式病例对照研究，纳入了始于 1976 年的护士健康研究（Nurses' Health Study）中的 7557 名认知健康的参与者，这些参与者存活至 80 岁，并在 80-87 岁时进行了认知评估。我们将情景记忆综合得分高于均数 1.5 个标准差的女性定义为具有超常记忆能力的女性（n=455）。然后，我们选择了 2275 名认知正常的对照者，这些对照者的得分在均数的 1 个标准差内，通过年龄和教育进行匹配。使用潜在过程混合模型在组间估计 BMI、A-MeDi 和体力活动在 52-62 岁到 82 岁期间的模式。
在中年，具有超常情景记忆能力的女性 BMI 相似（平均差异 [MD]=-0.07kg/m2 [95%置信区间 {CI}：-0.41；0.26]），但对 A-MeDi 的依从性更好（MD=+0.25 分 [0.08；0.43]），体力活动更多（MD=+3.50 代谢当量小时/周 [1.97；5.09]）。然而，随着年龄的增长，两组的模式相似；两组最初都增重，后来都减重，体力活动减少，饮食质量下降（所有组间时间交互作用 P>0.07）。
我们的研究结果表明，具有超常情景记忆能力的女性和认知正常对照者的生活方式因素主要在年轻时存在差异，因此生活方式在早期对保持高水平的记忆可能更为重要。
