A new study has found that so-called super-elderly people are more likely to have quicker movements and better mental health than other people their age. They are people over the age of 80 who retain exceptional memory and can recall everyday events and life experiences as someone 20 or 30 years younger.
Spanish researchers published last Friday in The Lancet Healthy Longevity one of the largest studies that have been carried out to date on these elderly people. One of the main conclusions is that the memory function of most people gradually declines as they age, but it seems that the super-elderly can avoid this age-related decline.
The research, led by Marta Garo-Pascual, from the Queen Sofia Foundation's Alzheimer's Center, suggests that these people are more likely to have greater agility than other people their age, as well as lower rates of anxiety and depression.
"We are now closer to solving one of the most important unanswered questions about the superelderly: whether they are really resistant to age-related memory decline or whether they have mechanisms that help them overcome this decline," Garo-Pascual said.
The study's findings suggest that superelders are resistant to these processes, but the reasons are still unclear. If the links between superaging and movement speed are further explored, "perhaps we can obtain important information about the mechanisms of preservation of memory function in old age," said the researcher.
Study participants were selected from the so-called Vallecas Project in Madrid, designed to help identify early indicators of Alzheimer's. Participants (64 superelderly and 55 elderly older than 79½ years) underwent up to six annual follow-up visits, where demographic and lifestyle factors were recorded, MRIs were performed to measure gray matter volume, and they underwent a series of clinical tests. The authors found that faster movement speed and better mental health were the factors most often associated with superelderly.
The overall level of gray matter in key areas of the group also degenerated more slowly over five years than in the elderly. Furthermore, no differences in biomarkers or genetic risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases were detected in either group. This suggests that the super-elderly are resistant to age-related processes that lead to memory impairment.
"Although superelderly report activity levels similar to those of other older people, it is possible that they perform more physically demanding activities, such as gardening or climbing stairs," said the study's lead author, Bryan Stange, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Staying physically active brings many direct and indirect benefits that can contribute to improving cognitive abilities in old age. It's possible that having better brain health is causing super elders to have faster movement speeds, he adds.
This group of people (the superelderly) agreed that their midlife lifestyle was generally more active; who were satisfied with their sleep duration and were more likely to have learned or amateur musical training than other people their age. In addition, they showed greater independence in their daily lives and obtained higher scores on intelligence tests.
The study is of an observational type, for this reason it is not possible to affirm whether the indicated factors have any direct effect on superaging, the authors recalled.
