Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine say that identifying phenotypes for successful cognitive aging can help identify interventions against late-life cognitive impairment. They reported online August 15 in Neurology the results of a family history study to determine whether C-reactive protein (CRP, synthesized in the liver and used as a marker for cardiovascular disease) is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, suggesting a successful cognitive aging phenotype.
They concluded that relatives of successful cognitive aging individuals with high levels of CRP are relatively likely to remain free of dementia. "High CRP in successful cognitive aging individuals may constitute a phenotype for familial—and thus possibly genetic—successful cognitive aging," they wrote.
Learn more about this topic in the book Successful Cognitive and Emotional Aging, available from American Psychiatric Publishing, here. (Image: Lisa F. Young/Shutterstock.com)
