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Evidence suggests that healthy lifestyles might slow cognitive decline and lower risk for Alzheimer dementia (AD). However, the same practices might lengthen life, exposing more people to elevated risk for AD at advanced ages and leading to more years lived with AD.
Researchers enrolled more than 10,000 residents (age, ≥65; about 56% Black) in Chicago between 1993 and 2012 and conducted clinical neurocognitive assessments on a stratified random sample every 3 years to detect the incidence and prevalence of AD. Participants' lifestyles were assessed at baseline for five factors: diet, cognitive activities, physical activity, smoking status, and alcohol consumption.
At age 65, women with four or five healthy lifestyle factors had longer life ex…