Can Alzheimer's genes predict who becomes a SuperAger?

Exceptional memory in later life may depend less on inherited Alzheimer's risk and more on the biological and lifestyle factors that help some older adults stay cognitively sharp for decades.

Study: SuperAging is not the inverse of common-variant Alzheimer’s risk: evidence across genetic ancestries. Image credit: fizkes/Shutterstock.com

A new study published in the journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy found that exceptional memory in SuperAgers, older adults who maintain unusually strong memory into their 80s and 90s, is not explained simply by lower inherited genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Age is the strongest predictor of cognitive decline, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Cognitive decline is characterized by declining episodic memory and changes in hippocampal and cortical circuits key to memory.