Selective decline in memory function among healthy elderly

Objective To use longitudinally acquired data to establish whether aging is associated with memory decline. Background: Memory loss is one of the most frequent complaints among the elderly. Nevertheless, age-related memory de cline remains controversial in large part because it has been established w ith cross-sectional studies. Methods: A total of 212 community-based health y people were followed prospectively and evaluated annually with a neuropsy chological battery testing memory and other cognitive domains. To control f or the learning effect-the improvement in test performance associated with repeated exposure-longitudinal performance was compared between two age gro ups. Results: The older age group displayed a relative decline in memory pe rformance with time. In contrast to memory, a relative age-related decline was not observed in tests of language, visuospatial ability, and abstract r easoning. Furthermore, within the memory domain, age-related decline was re stricted to a specific aspect of memory, manifesting only in a measure sens itive to the acquisition and early retrieval of new information, and not in a measure of memory retention. This profile of age-related cognitive decli ne anatomically localizes to the hippocampal formation. Conclusion: This st udy establishes age-related memory decline using longitudinal data, and sho ws that this decline does not occur diffusely across multiple cognitive dom ains. Both early AD as well as non-AD processes likely contribute to age-re lated memory decline, and continued follow-up may reveal distinguishing fea tures between these two.