ABSTRACT
The criterion most often applied to the high risk groups was a major decline in health status. This deterioration of health frequently stemmed from cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other medical conditions that accelerate the rate of cognitive decline and increase the risk for dementia. One of the qualities that differentiate some high-risk agers from other older adults is their inability to recover from the effects of highly stressful but not unusual experiences associated with growing older. Common among those in the high-risk category are continuing problems with non-memory-related mental tasks such as being able sustain attention and reasoning. Dissatisfaction with social relationships is common among the high-risk agers. A pattern in a minority of the high-risk group was evidence of more than one potentially dangerous mental lapse in the past year—sometimes called "dysexecutive mild cognitive impairment." The magnitude of the differences between high-risk cognitive agers and those functioning normally was significant.
