A study recently published in Nature finds that cognitive decline in Asian American seniors varies greatly by ethnic group. This study followed a group of older Asian Americans and measured their cognitive function over time. It looked at factors such as nativity, language, and educational attainment. Among other findings, the researchers discovered that Filipino Americans had the greatest decline in executive function.
Why Filipino Americans? The study authors speculate that this is may be from Filipino American’s high incidence of hypertension, which correlates strongly with cognitive decline. I personally know many Filipinos with hypertension, an I am one of them!
Data for this study was taken from the Kaiser Health Aging and Diverse Life Experience (HANDLE) project and LifeAfter90 longitudinal studies. One actionable item from this study is that if you have hypertension, get it under control. I have had to do that myself.
(photo credit: Phlsph7 adapted by The Anome, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
