Your brain at work: Your occupation could impact your risk of cognitive impairment in later life

More details on lifestyle and cognitive function in older age have emerged from a Norwegian study of occupations. Researchers found that those with brain-stimulating jobs in midlife had a lower risk of developing cognitive impairment in later life. “We examined the demands of various jobs and found that cognitive stimulation at work during different stages in life—during your 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s—was linked to a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment after the age of 70,” said study author Dr. Trine Holt Edwin of Oslo University Hospital in Norway in a press release. “Our findings highlight the value of having a job that requires more complex thinking as a way to possibly maintain memory and thinking in old age.”Researchers looked at 7,000 Norwegians who had one of 305 different occupations. They measured how much cognitive stimulation people had at work based on the amount of:routine manual tasks, i.e., repetitive motions that demand speed and control of equipment like factory workroutine cognitive tasks, i.e., repetitive tasks that involve precision and accuracy like filing or bookeepingnon-routine analytical tasks, i.e., activities that require analysing information, engaging in creative thinking and interpreting findings for othersnon-routine interpersonal tasks, i.e., starting and maintaining personal relationships and motivating othersThe researchers divided people with various occupations into four groups based on their jobs’ level of cognitive demand. Teaching was the most common job for the group with the highest cognitive demands at work. Custodians and mail carriers and custodians were the most common occupations for the group with the lowest cognitive demands at work. Read: Donepezil not associated with increased risk of proarrhythmic cardiac eventsAfter age 70, 42% of those with the lowest cognitive demand jobs and 27% of those with the highest cognitive demand jobs were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Fifteen percent of those with low cognitive demand jobs and 11% of those with high cognitive demand jobs were disgnosed with dementia.The researchers adjusted for confounding factors such as age, sex, education, income and lifestyle. With that adjustment, the group with the lowest cognitive demanding jobs had a 66% higher risk of cognitive impairment and a 31% higher risk of dementia compared to those with the group with high cognitive demands at work. With more analysis, the researchers also found that level of education influenced risk of later cognitive impairment and dementia, as earlier studies have shown.“These results indicate that both education and doing work that challenges your brain during your career play a crucial role in lowering the risk of cognitive impairment later in life,” Dr. Edwin said. “Further research is required to pinpoint the specific cognitively challenging occupational tasks that are most beneficial for maintaining thinking and memory skills.”Dr. Edwin and colleagues noted that some jobs with the same title may not require the same magnitude of cognitive demand. The research findings are in keeping with previous cohort studies that suggest cognitive-stimulating work environments were associated with lower risk of dementia. The study was published in Neurology.Read: How long will a loved one live? It’s difficult to hear, but harder not to know

Your brain at work: Your occupation could impact your risk of cognitive impairment in later life

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