News

Psychiatric News (2/7) reports research indicates that “women with strong writing skills might be more likely to experience cognitive improvements following” mild cognitive impairment “than women without these skills.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining “data from 619 participants in the Nun Study, a study that tracked the cognitive function of nuns (aged 75 years or older at enrollment) annually until their death or through the completion of 12 cognitive assessments.” In addition, the study team “evaluated autobiographies written by the participants decades earlier to assess their written language skills.” After adjustment for confounding factors, “researchers found that participants with a bachelor’s degree or higher level of educational attainment were more likely to revert from MCI to normal cognition than those with a high school degree or lower.” The findings were published online Feb. 4 in the journal Neurology. (SOURCE: APA Headlines)