The results came from a study of 2,449 people aged 65 and older participating in the Chicago Health and Aging Project, which first invited people to join in 1993.
The present-day researchers developed a healthy lifestyle rating system for their participants that included five factors: diet, cognitive activity, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. Individuals received one point for each field if they complied with the health standards. The total score resulted from 0 to 5, with higher scores pointing to a healthier lifestyle.
Considering dementia, those with a healthy score of 4 or 5 at age 65 lived with Alzheimer's disease for a smaller part of their remaining years than those with a score of 0 or 1. The difference for women with healthier lifestyles was that they had Alzheimer's disease 11% of their later years, versus 19% for women with less healthy lifestyles. For men, it was 6 percent of the time remaining versus 12 percent.
The scientists made a conclusion that increased life expectancy due to a healthy lifestyle is not associated with more years with Alzheimer's dementia, but rather with more of remaining years lived without Alzheimer's.
