This study highlights how factors like depression, low levels of education, physical inactivity and high blood pressure may decrease cognitive functioning, even amongst the young. It's not hard to see how an ACE history would lead to the aforementioned risk factors.
Health factors that have been shown to increase the risk of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia have now been found to increase the likelihood of memory complaints across all adult age groups, including young adults between the ages of 18-39.
A new study, carried out by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and published in the journal PLOS ONE, claims to be the first to determine that these risk factors may be indicative of early memory complaints.
Researchers polled 18,552 individuals aged 18 to 99 about their memory and a variety of lifestyle and health factors. They used telephone and cellphone interviews, capturing a representative 90% of the US population, focusing on factors known to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, such as depression, diabetes, lower education levels, obesity and smoking.
The risk factors found to increase the likelihood of memory complaints were depression, low levels of education, physical inactivity and high blood pressure. Across all age groups, the strongest single risk factor for memory complaints was depression.
Dr. Gary Small, UCLA's Parlow-Solomon Professor on Aging and director of the UCLA Longevity Center, was the study's senior author and was surprised by how prevalent memory issues were among young adults.
Study available at PLOS ONE: Modifiable Risk Factors for Alzheimer Disease and Subjective Memory Impairment across Age Groups
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