Health Care Outcomes Associated With Cognitive Super-Ageing

There is growing interest in the determinants of cognitive "super-ageing" but less is known about associations with other aspects of ageing well. This study aimed to determine associations between super-ageing and a range of health outcomes.

Longitudinal cohort study.

A community sample from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS).

One thousand and three community-dwelling 70-90-year-olds.

Cognitive super-agers were defined as 1) those performing at or above population-based norms in at least one cognitive domain and at least normal performance for age in other cognitive domains (SA1), 2) those performing within the top 15th percentile of the sample globally using a composite score of five different domains (SA2) or 3) those demonstrating maintenance of cognitive performance across available waves of testing (SA3). MAS records were linked to hospital and death records to identify healthcare utilization rates and other outcomes in super-agers compared with their cognitively average peers ("typical agers").

Super-agers had fewer emergency department attendances, unplanned hospital admissions and falls. The risk of delirium among super-agers was substantially lower than for typical agers and they were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with dementia during a ten year follow up period. They were also less likely to require residential aged care placement. Overall, SA3 was most strongly associated with better health care outcomes.

Cognitive super-ageing is associated with a range of better health care outcomes that are meaningful to older adults. Strategies to preserve cognitive function may have wide ranging benefits in an ageing population.