Yank Seniors Outshine British in Head-to-Head Brainpower Test

June 28, 2009— -- In a study likely to ignite barroom arguments in both nations, American seniors performed significantly better on cognition and memory tests than their British counterparts -- indicating that older Yanks may be more mentally agile, researchers reported.

In tests of almost 14,000 residents over 65 on both sides of the Atlantic, Americans scored an average 13.2 on a 24-point cognitive scale, compared with 11.7 for comparable Britons, according to Dr. Kenneth Langa of the University of Michigan and colleagues.

Reporting online in the journal BMC Geriatrics, the researchers called the findings especially surprising because the Americans, in their sample, tended to have more cardiovascular disease and diabetes and were far more likely to be alcohol-abstinent -- all factors that would work against health in old age.

They had no definite explanation for the difference, but they pointed out that the United States sample was generally better educated and wealthier, and had a lower prevalence of depression.

The Americans also were somewhat more likely to take medication to treat high blood pressure.

A related clue, the researchers said, was that Americans 85 and older did particularly well in the testing relative to their British counterparts. The mean U.S. and British scores in this age group were 10.1 and 8.3, respectively. The differences were narrower in younger age ranges.

"The fact that the greatest cognitive advantage for U.S. adults in our study was among the oldest-old may also support the hypothesis that more aggressive diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, and possibly other cardiovascular risks, in the U.S. in middle-age and older adults leads to less significant cognitive decline among the oldest-old," the researchers wrote in the study.

Given the enormous health and cost implications of dementia, they added, research to confirm that more aggressive management of cardiovascular disease could improve cognition "could pay significant public health dividends."