Life After 90

Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect 15 percent of those aged 65 and older, by age 90 and older this number increases to a startling 40 to 50 percent. The oldest-old, people aged 90 and older, are the fastest growing segment of the elderly population in the United States, currently comprising 4.7 percent, and they are expected to increase to almost 10 percent of the elderly population by 2050. Yet there’s an enormous dearth of information on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and age-associated dementias in the oldest-old, particularly in nonwhites and those from lower socioeconomic classes. Our overall objectives are to determine there are ethnoracial differences among the oldest-old in the incidence of MCI/dementia; quantify mid- and late-life risk and protective factors for MCI/dementia; and understand the burden of cerebral and brain pathologies in this population.

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