Sharper reasoning skills in teen years tied to lower dementia risk later in life

Could the way we think in our 20s offer clues about our risk of dementia decades later? Large population studies suggest that people who perform better on thinking ability tests in adolescence or young adulthood are less likely to develop dementia later in life. However, cognitive performance in early adulthood is shaped by more than thinking ability alone; it can also reflect education, life experiences and family environment. This makes it difficult to determine whether scores on cognitive tests are a reliable indicator of future dementia risk.