Brain injury in cognitive decline 'starts as young as 45'RSS Feed

The brain injury seen in cognitive decline could start as early as the age of 45, according to new research.

Scientists monitored a selection of 5,198 men and 2,192 women aged between 45 and 70 at the beginning of the study over a ten-year period.

Their cognitive functions were evaluated three times during this time, with tests assessing memory, vocabulary, reasoning and verbal fluency.

Results revealed that cognitive performance declines significantly with age in all of these areas except for vocabulary tests.

Reasoning scores were seen to decrease by 3.6 per cent for men aged between 45 and 49, and 9.6 per cent for those between the ages of 65 and 70 - indicating the onset of the brain injury occurs earlier than previously believed.

The corresponding figures for females stood at 3.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.

Research director Archana Singh-Manoux commented: "Determining the age at which cognitive decline begins is important since behavioural or pharmacological interventions designed to change cognitive aging trajectories are likely to be more effective if they are applied from the onset of decline."

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