Religious Orders Study: Overview and Change in Cognitive and Motor Speed

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Abstract
The Religious Orders Study is a longitudinal, clinical-pathologic study of aging and Alzheimer’s disease in older Catholic nuns, priests, and brothers. In the first section of the paper, we describe the overall design and methods of the Religious Orders Study and summarize published findings. In the second section, we present new longitudinal analyses of change in summary measures of motor, perceptual, and verbal speed in 800 Religious Orders Study participants examined annually for a mean of approximately 5 years. In each domain, speed declined about 2% per year. There were wide individual differences, however, and rates of slowing in each domain were only moderately intercorrelated and were predicted by different factors. The results suggest age-related slowing is more person-specific and domain-specific than previously supposed.

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