Twice the amount of young people are now at a heightened risk of dementia than there were a decade ago, new research shows.
Americans, particularly young Americans, have experienced a 40 percent increase in the rate of cognitive disability over the past decade, rising from about 5 million people reporting a disability to about 7 million.
And a new study from Yale researchers have found rates of people aged 18 to 39 who self-report cognitive decline nearly doubled from five percent in 2013 to 10 percent in 2023.
A group of American researchers surveyed 4.5 million American adults 18 and older from 2013 to 2023 on their cognitive abilities.
Overall, among all respondents, the percentage of people self-reporting cognitive disability, such as difficulty with memory and performing daily tasks, rose from 5.3 percent to 7.4 percent over the decade.
These symptoms are core signals that something is wrong -a cognitive disability, such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), is the pivotal stage between normal aging and dementia.
With about 80 percent of individuals with MCI progressing to dementia within six years, cognitive symptoms are a clear signal of significantly elevated risk for irreversible neurological disease.
Based on the results, researchers concluded that young adults were the primary driver of the overall rise in cognitive disability in the US and, potentially, the general increase in the number of Americans diagnosed with dementia.
In the study led by Yale University researchers, cognitive disability was defined as an affirmative answer to the question, ‘Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?’ (stock)
Study author Dr Adam de Havenon, a neurologist at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, said in a statement: ‘Challenges with memory and thinking have emerged as a leading health issue reported by US adults.
‘Our study shows that these difficulties may be becoming more widespread, especially among younger adults, and that social and structural factors likely play a key role.’
Cognitive impairment is the second most common type of disability in the US, with roughly six to 11 percent of Americans affected, the researchers said.
But the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) report indicated that number may actually be even higher, with a prevalence of 14 percent. This would make it the most frequently reported disability.
To determine how the condition’s prevalence has risen, researchers used the BRFSS survey, which is an ongoing national telephone survey that collects health-related information from millions of adults in the US.
Cognitive disability was defined as an affirmative answer to the question, ‘Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?’
In addition to rates doubling in adults under 40, there were major disparities among demographic groups and along financial lines.
American Indian/Alaska Native individuals saw the highest jump, from 7.5 percent in 2013 to more than 11 percent in 2023, a 49 percent spike.
Black and Hispanic adults also showed elevated rates compared to white adults, while Asian adults had the lowest rates of cognitive disability.
The team also found that income and education level were key contributors to cognitive health. People making less than $35,000 per year were more likely to report cognitive decline, while those with incomes over $75,000 had substantially lower rates.
According to a new study analyzing a decade of data from 4.5 million Americans, reports of cognitive disability have surged by 40 percent. The prevalence rose from five percent to over seven percent
The graph shows that rates of reported cognitive disability nearly doubled among adults 18 to 39, while rates for older adults remained relatively stable or even declined
Those with a high school education were also more likely to report these issues compared to those with advanced degrees.
While rates increased for all income levels, the absolute gap between the richest and poorest widened by 1.4 percentage points over the decade.
‘These findings suggest we’re seeing the steepest increases in memory and thinking problems among people who already face structural disadvantages,’ de Havenon added.
Reports of disability rose from nine percent in 2013 to 12.6 percent in 2023 in the lower income group.
Poor and minority groups are far more likely to experience worse overall health than their higher-income counterparts.
Generally, their access to healthcare, including screening for cognitive impairment that could be a prelude to dementia, is out of reach due to distance from providers or prohibitive costs.
Although the survey does not measure clinical cognitive impairment, de Havenon emphasized that the sharp rise in young adults reporting cognitive disability signals a significant public health trend.
One leading theory for the rise in reported cognitive issues is the impact of long Covid, which is estimated to affect roughly 17 million Americans.
Prevalence of cognitive disability increased across all groups from 2013-2023, shown in each graph, but rates were consistently highest among racial minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged adults.
Since the pandemic, a common complaint among individuals who contracted Covid has been persistent brain fog, or a feeling of mental cloudiness or difficulty thinking clearly, which often continues long after the initial infection has passed.
But in the latest study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers excluded 2020 because of the significant disruptions in data collection caused by the pandemic, which affected response rates and the quality of the data.
People managing chronic physical conditions were far more likely to also struggle with serious memory and thinking problems.
Adults who had survived a stroke were the most affected, with nearly one in five reporting significant cognitive disability in 2023.
The elevated risk extended to common conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Adults with high blood pressure were 30 percent more likely to report serious cognitive difficulties than those without it. The risk was even greater for people with diabetes, who saw a nearly 50 percent higher prevalence of cognitive disability.
De Havenon said: ‘More research is also needed to understand what’s driving the large increase in rates among younger adults, given the potential long-term implications for health, workforce productivity and health care systems.
‘It could reflect actual changes in brain health, better awareness and willingness to report problems, or other health and social factors. But regardless of possible causes, the rise is real—and it’s especially pronounced in people under 40.”
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