‘Super agers’ have genetic advantages against Alzheimer’s disease

“Super agers” — people 80 and older whose memories function as if they were decades younger — tend to stay physically active and have active social networks. That’s true even for super agers who have surpassed 100, research shows.The latest study, published earlier this month by the Alzheimer’s Association, found that super agers also share two genetic traits that help keep their brains young.

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For the study, Vanderbilt University researchers examined data from 18,000 people involved in a separate Alzheimer’s Disease study, and identified 1,623 super agers. They evaluated the group for the presence of the APOE-ε4 gene, which puts people at higher risk for Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. 

The super agers were 68% less likely to have the gene than people who had Alzheimers and were in the same age group. They were 19% less likely to have it than people who did not have Alzheimer’s and in the same age group.

The researchers also found super agers were 103% more likely to have a gene, APOE-ε2, that seems protective against Alzheimer’s than people in the same age group with Alzheimer’s. They also were 28% more likely to have the gene than others in the group without Alzheimer’s.

“This is the most definitive evidence to date that APOE contributes to SuperAging,” the study’s lead author, Leslie Gaynor, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told MedicalResearch.com.