Integrated healthy lifestyle even in late-life mitigates cognitive decline risk across varied genetic susceptibility
It remains unclear whether the benefits of adhering to a healthy lifestyle outweigh the effects of high genetic risk on cognitive decline. We examined the association of combined lifestyle factors and genetic risk with changes in cognitive function and six specific dimensions of cognition among older adults from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (1998-2018, n = 18,811, a subset of 6301 participants with genetic information). Compared to participants with an unfavorable lifestyle, those with a favorable lifestyle showed a 46.81% slower rate of cognitive decline, with similar results across most cognitive domains. High genetic risk was associated with a 12.5% faster rate of cognitive decline. Individuals with a high genetic risk and a favorable lifestyle have slower cognitive decline than those with a low genetic risk and an unfavorable lifestyle. These data suggest that the benefits of a favorable lifestyle outweigh genetic factors, and therefore that adhering to a favorable lifestyle may offset the genetic risk for accelerated cognitive decline.
Authors
- Xiaoming Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7071-571X)
- J H Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8384-4174)
- Chen Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8412-2966)
- Xinwei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0765-677X)
- Zinan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0798-2963)
- Yuebin Lv (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5532-3917)
- Lanjing Xu
- Zhuchun Zhong
- Jun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0376-6071)
Institutions
- Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
- National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control (CN)
- Southern Medical University (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-01-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55763-0
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.60
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Key Research and Development Program of China