Researchers say mental health disorders explain much of the decline

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by Susan Perry

“The American baby boomer generation is not as cognitively sharp during middle age and later in life as previous generations, according to a recent study published online in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

“The findings are ‘clear and alarming,’ say the study’s authors, for they suggest that recent declines in the incidence of dementia in the United States may soon begin to reverse. Cognitive decline can be an early warning sign of dementia.

“‘With the aging population in the United States, we were already likely to see an increase in the number of people with dementia,’ says Hui  Zheng, the study’s lead author and a sociologist at Ohio State University, in a released statement. ‘But this study suggests it may be worse than we expected for decades to come.'”

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