Communities across the globe are faced with a rapidly aging society, where age is the main risk factor for cognitive decline and development of Alzheimer's and related diseases. Despite extensive research, there have been no successful treatments yet. A rare group of individuals called "super-agers" have been noted to thrive with their exceptional ability to maintain a healthy brain and normal cognitive function even in old age. Studying their traits, lifestyles, and environments may provide valuable insight. This study used a data-driven approach to identify potential super-agers among 7121 UK Biobank participants and found that these individuals have the highest total brain volume, best cognitive performance, and lowest functional connectivity. The researchers suggest a novel hypothesis that these super-agers possess enhanced neural processing efficiency that increases with age and introduce a definition of the "neural efficiency index." Furthermore, several other types of aging were identified and significant structural-functional differences were observed between them, highlighting the benefit of research efforts in personalized medicine and precision nutrition.
Keywords: Cognitive reserve; Healthy brain aging; Longitudinal study; Neural efficiency; Neurodegeneration; Neuroimaging.
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