The researchers found that in men aged 45 to 49 the reasoning skills declined by nearly 4 percent while for those aged 65 to 70 the skills dropped by about 10 percent. In case of women, the decline in reasoning was about 5 percent for those aged 45 to 49 and about 7 percent for those aged 65 to 70.

Singh was also quoted saying "Greater awareness of the fact that our cognitive status is not intact until deep old age might lead individuals to make changes in their lifestyle and improve [their] cardiovascular health, to reduce risk of adverse cognitive outcomes in old age." The researchers said that targeting patients who have risk factors for heart disease such as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol might not only protect their hearts but also prevent dementia in old age.

Heather M. Snyder, the senior associate director of medical & scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association said that these changes did not mean that all the people will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease or another dementia. She added that "It is important to remember that the cognitive changes associated with ageing are very different from the cognitive changes that are associated with Alzheimer's disease." Snyder also added “Although some of these people may go on to develop Alzheimer's disease there is currently no way to tell who is at risk. This is why it is so important to continue to investigate biological changes that occur in the earliest stages, because it is difficult to [determine] the cognitive changes that are associated with Alzheimer's disease,” as reported by health 24.