Health
Nearly half of seniors improve with age — and researchers think they know why
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Aging is often depicted as a steady decline, but new research suggests that many older adults actually improve over time.
Using more than a decade of data from a large, representative study of older Americans, Yale University researchers found that nearly half of adults 65 and older showed improvement in cognitive function, physical function or both.
The improvements were consistent across the study population, and were linked to the participants’ mindset about aging, according to a press release.
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“In contrast to a predominant belief or stereotype that age is a time of continuous and inevitable decline, we found evidence that a meaningful number of older persons actually show improvement over 12 years in cognitive and/or physical health,” lead author Becca Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale, told Fox News Digital.
The research, which was published in the journal Geriatrics, relied on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a federally supported, long-running survey of older Americans.
The results were consistent across the study population, rather than being limited to a small group of high performers. (iStock)
Researchers tracked changes in cognition using global performance tests and measured physical function based on walking speed, which was seen as a “vital sign” because of its strong links to disability, hospitalization and mortality.
Over a 12-year period, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically. About 32% showed cognitive gains, while 28% improved physically, according to the study.
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“If you average everyone together, you see decline,” Levy said. “But when you look at individual trajectories, you uncover a very different story. A meaningful percentage of the older participants … got better.”
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A participant’s beliefs about aging appeared to influence the results, as those with more positive age beliefs were significantly more likely to show improvements in both cognition and walking speed.
Over a 12-year period, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically, researchers found. (iStock)
This remained true even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, education, chronic disease, depression and the length of follow-up. Improvements were seen even among participants who started with “normal” levels of function, not just those recovering from injuries or illness.
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“Individuals who have taken in more positive age beliefs … tend to have a lower stress response and lower stress biomarkers,” Levy said. Because age beliefs are modifiable, she noted, there could be a capacity for improvements later in life.
The study did have some limitations, the researchers acknowledged. It didn’t look at how muscles or brain cells change and adapt, which could help explain why people improved.
“Individuals who have taken in more positive age beliefs … tend to have a lower stress response and lower stress biomarkers,” the researcher said. (iStock)
Future studies should examine improvement patterns for other types of cognition, such as spatial memory, they added.
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“In addition, although our participants were drawn from a nationally representative sample, it would be useful to examine patterns of improvement in additional cohorts that have a greater representation of different ethnic minority groups,” the researchers noted in the study.
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The authors said they hope the findings will debunk the myth that continuous physical and cognitive decline is inevitable.
“We found evidence that there could be psychological pathways, behavioral pathways and physiological pathways [by which age beliefs impact health],” said Levy. “It’s common, and it should be included in our understanding of the aging process.”
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A new test could make it easier to detect high-risk prostate cancer cases earlier.
The blood test, called Stockholm3, is showing promise in clinical trials, beating out the traditional, standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
In a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden studied the test’s efficacy in more than 12,000 men — mostly Swedish or European — aged 50 to 74.
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All participants were tested with PSA and Stockholm3 and were followed for two years. During the follow-up period, 443 men were diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer.
Stockholm3 detected 90% of aggressive prostate cancer cases compared to 74% for PSA tests.
Stockholm3 detected 90% of aggressive prostate cancer cases compared to 74% for PSA tests. (iStock)
Stockholm3 missed “significantly fewer” serious cancer cases than PSA. The number of men incorrectly classified as high-risk was similar across both tests, according to a press release.
Thorgerdur Palsdottir, a researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, wrote in a statement that one of the major challenges in prostate cancer is being able to identify the cases that are “truly dangerous.”
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“Our results show that Stockholm3 identifies significantly more aggressive cancer cases than PSA without increasing the number of unnecessary follow-ups,” she said.
“These results point toward a potential change in how prostate cancer screening can be conducted,” the researcher added. “A more precise blood test could enable earlier detection of aggressive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up examinations and procedures.”
“A more precise blood test could enable earlier detection of aggressive disease while reducing the number of unnecessary follow-up examinations and procedures,” a researcher commented. (iStock)
Study co-author Hari Vigneswaran, chief medical officer of Stockholm3-maker A3P Biomedical, commented on these “promising” findings in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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He confirmed that the PSA has been the standard for prostate cancer screening since the 1990s despite its “well-documented limitations.”
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“It leads to invasive and costly follow-up testing, contributes to over-diagnosis of non-aggressive cancers and, most importantly, it misses a substantial share of aggressive disease,” Vigneswaran said.
When aggressive prostate cancer is found while still confined in the prostate, the five-year survival is close to 100%. (iStock)
When aggressive prostate cancer is found while still confined in the prostate, the five-year survival rate is close to 100%, which highlights the importance of early detection, according to the doctor.
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Data from the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database show that metastatic prostate cancer has risen over the past decade, suggesting that “we have not improved early detection of the aggressive, curable disease that screening is meant to catch,” Vigneswaran said.
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“The goal of screening is to find the cancers that need treatment while they are still curable, without raising the number of men who screen positive but don’t have aggressive disease,” he said.
Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher. (Getty Images)
Stockholm3 could reduce the need for unnecessary MRIs and biopsies, according to the researcher.
The findings did have some limitations. Stockholm3 is an investigational device and is not available for sale in the U.S., Vigneswaran noted.
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The test estimates a man’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer, but a biopsy remains the gold standard for confirming the disease.
The company plans to seek FDA approval to use the test for routine screening and will “generate the evidence needed to support that pathway, including U.S. data,” Vigneswaran said.
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Scientists have linked eating leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli to better lung health.
There are two primary forms of vitamin K found in foods. The primary kind is vitamin K1, found mainly in vegetables, which plays a major role in the body’s blood-clotting process.
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Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods, certain dairy products, eggs and meats and helps regulate calcium in the body and supports bone health.
Researchers at Australia’s Edith Cowan University examined whether dietary intake of vitamins K1 and K2 was associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung function.
Leafy green vegetables are high in vitamin K1, a nutrient that researchers have observed conributes to improved lung health. (iStock)
“Chronic respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, are among the most prevalent noncommunicable diseases worldwide and were the third leading cause of death in 2019, accounting for 4 million deaths and affecting 454.6 million individuals globally,” the scientists reported in the introduction to their study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“Although asthma and COPD can be managed with available treatments, neither condition is curable, underscoring the need for effective prevention strategies,” they added.
The leading cause of COPD is smoking, the Mayo Clinic reported. Exposure to other irritants, such as dust, chemicals and pollution, can also cause it.
The researchers analyzed data from 179,062 participants over a 10-and-a-half-year period and concluded that, “Higher dietary vitamin K1 intake was associated with better lung function and a lower rate of COPD.”
Researchers found that people who increased their vitamin K1 intake were less likely to develop COPD. (iStock)
Participants who consumed the most vitamin K1 had a 16% lower likelihood of COPD, the researchers observed. The effects were more pronounced in smokers and participants with high-risk occupations.
Consumption of vitamin K2 did not result in lower COPD rates.
“No association was observed for vitamin K1 or vitamin K2 intakes and asthma,” the researchers also wrote.
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Associate Professor Marc Sim, who was involved in the study, said that it’s likely Vitamin K activates a protein that may help keep lung tissue flexible and prevent damage.
Because the study was observational, it cannot prove that vitamin K1 directly reduces COPD risk, only that higher intake was associated with better lung health.
Researchers have associated higher consumption of leafy green vegetables with better lung function. (iStock)
Just one extra serving of leafy greens “is an achievable way to boost your vitamin K1 intake,” said Chengfeng Li, one of the study’s researchers.
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Other foods rich in vitamin K1 include collard greens, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts and turnip greens.
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