Overview
- The peer‑reviewed Journal of the American Geriatrics Society paper published Wednesday reports that every six‑point rise in an optimism score was linked to about a 15% lower risk of dementia.
- The team analyzed 9,071 dementia‑free older adults from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study, with optimism measured by the standard Life Orientation Test.
- Participants were about 74 years old on average, and researchers tracked cognition for up to 14 years, during which roughly 3,000 people developed dementia.
- The association remained after excluding people who developed dementia in the first two years, a check that reduces the chance early decline simply made participants less optimistic.
- Authors point to plausible pathways such as lower stress, stronger social support, and more physical activity, and coverage notes some outlets reported different follow‑up durations.