Cognitive speed training may delay dementia diagnosis over decades

An NIH-funded 20-year follow-up of adults 65 and older found that adaptive visual speed training — delivered in short courses with later boosters — was associated with a 25% lower rate of Medicare-claimed dementia diagnoses, while memory and reasoning training did not show the same association.

A long-term NIH-funded follow-up study tracked adults age 65 and older to examine whether brief cognitive training in 1999 affected later dementia diagnoses. Participants were randomized into training aimed at memory, reasoning, or visual speed processing, with some receiving later booster sessions. Medicare claims through 2019 for 2,021 participants were analyzed to assess diagnoses over roughly two decades. Key findings: - The study analyzed 2,021 participants with Medicare claims data covering up to 2019 and a follow-up of about 20 years. - Training sessions were 60–75 minutes, twice weekly for five to six weeks in 1999; half of participants were randomized to additional booster sessions at 11 and 35 months. - Only the adaptive visual speed training group that received later booster training showed a lower rate of diagnosed Alzheimer disease and related dementias (about 25% lower by claims measures). - The speed training differed from the other programs by increasing difficulty adaptively and by engaging faster, more automatic perceptual processes rather than slower, deliberate thinking. - Memory and reasoning training in this trial were not associated with the same reduction in claims-based dementia diagnoses. Summary: The reported result is that a specific, adaptive visual speed training program delivered over weeks and reinforced later was associated with fewer dementia diagnoses over the following two decades. Researchers say the underlying mechanisms remain to be clarified and further study is planned to replicate and better understand how such training might relate to long-term diagnostic outcomes.