Overview
- Over as many as 12 years of follow‑up, 45% of participants improved in at least one domain, with 32% showing cognitive gains and 28% walking faster.
- TICS scores tracked cognition and a 2.5‑meter walking test measured physical function, providing standardized markers across the nationally representative sample.
- More positive age beliefs were linked to higher odds of later improvement even after adjusting for demographics, chronic conditions, depression and other factors, though the evidence is associative.
- Stability was also common, with 51.06% showing stable or improved cognition and 37.56% showing stable or improved walking speed, and only about 44% of cognitive improvers also improving walking speed.
- Improvement rates far exceeded the Healthy People 2030 benchmark of 11.5%, prompting calls to rethink assumptions about inevitable decline and to explore interventions that shift age beliefs.