title: Midlife memory improvement predicts preservation of hippocampal volume in old age.
abstract: This study examines whether midlife change in episodic memory predicts hippocampal volume in old age. From the Seattle Longitudinal Study we retrospectively identified 84 healthy, cognitively normal individuals, age 52 to 87, whose episodic memory had reliably declined (n = 33), improved (n = 28) or remained stable (n = 23) over a 14-year period in midlife (age 43-63). Midlife memory improvement was associated with 13% larger hippocampal volume (p < 0.01) in old age (age 66-87), compared with old age individuals whose midlife episodic memory had either declined or remained stable during midlife. Midlife memory change did not predict total hippocampal volume for those currently in late middle age (age 52-65). The pattern of findings was not modified by gender, apolipoprotein ε4 status, education or current memory performance. Change in midlife memory scores over 14 years, but not any single assessment, predicted hippocampal volumes in old age, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal data in examining brain-cognition relationships. These findings suggest that improvement in memory in midlife is associated with sparing of hippocampal volume in later life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA. paulrb@uw.edu
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Borghesani
authors.forename: Kurt E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Aylward
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Tara M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Madhyastha
authors.forename: Ali R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Rachel L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ellenbogen
authors.forename: M Faisal
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.forename: K Warner
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Schaie
authors.forename: Sherry L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Willis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests