Memory Loss increases Death Risk, says Study

Grown-up individuals who have thinking and memory problems are at a higher risk of death, a new research has suggested. Such brain related issue is called cognitive impairment. Greg A. Sachs, MD, professor of medicine and a scientist at the Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine took off the study to determine the link between cognitive impairment and risk of death.

During the research around 3,957 men and women, aged 60 to 102 were examined between January 1991 and May 1993. They were asked 10 questions to judge their mental status.

Now, the researchers classified them to three groups as per their answers. The three categories were - having no cognitive impairment, mild, moderate and severe impairment.

During this examination it was found that out of the 3,957 subjects, 3,157 had no mental impairment, 533 had mild impairment and 267 had moderate to severe problems.

The researchers observed them for a long time up to Dec. 31, 2006 when they found that 57% of those with no impairment died, 68% of those with mild and 79% of those with moderate to severe memory problems died.

In other words, the median survival time was 138 months for those who had no impairment, 106 for those with mild impairment and 63 months for those with moderate to severe impairment.

The study also found the symptoms in case of all the groups. When the impairment is mild, a person has little trouble with attention, language, judgment, memory, reading and writing. In the later stage daily activities are hampered. The stage is termed dementia.

However, the researchers also admit that the study has certain limitations like in several other cases. The men and women were only tested at the beginning. Memory and thinking problems were not tracked over time. And also all the respondents were from Indianapolis having with little education and low socioeconomic status. For that reason, the findings may not be complete.

Sachs further suggests that cognitive impairment is also an important factor for the doctors to evaluate. He says so as it is a common practice that doctors often dismiss problems with memory thinking it to be just inevitable with age and pays much attention to heart disease and cancers. He prescribes physical exercise, mental engagement and social contact to minimize cognitive impairment.

The research was funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and findings of the study was published in the ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’.