ABSTRACT
With the dramatic increase in longevity during the past century, the proportion of older persons in most industrialized populations has substantially increased. As a result of this demographic shift, chronic medical conditions of old age have become an increasing public health burden. Prominent among these conditions are Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease, which are common contributors to impaired cognitive and motor function in old age. Current research suggests that loss of cognitive and motor abilities in old age reflects the interaction of genetic and experiential risk factors with the accumulation of age-related neuropathology occurring within nervous systems whose structure and functional capabilities differ from person to person. Prevention of cognitive and motor decline in old age, therefore, is likely to require detailed information about risk factors, cognitive and motor abilities proximate to death, and postmortem data on neuropathologic lesions and neurobiologic structure and function. The Rush Religious Orders Study was designed to confront these issues. Participants are older persons who have agreed to detailed annual clinical evaluations and brain autopsy upon death. It has three broad aims: to identify risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and for decline in cognitive and motor function; to clarify the neurobiologic bases of cognitive and motor impairment; and to examine the neurobiologic mechanisms linking risk factors to clinical outcomes.
