Originally published at National Catholic Register
The contribution of nearly 700 Catholic religious sisters to a “groundbreaking” decades-long study on Alzheimer’s and dementia continues to offer important information for maintaining “cognitive health” across the lifespan, researchers say.
Launched in 1986 by neurologist David Snowdon, the “Nun Study” produced “seminal findings” on “cognitive impairment and related neuropathologies,” researchers said in a historical review published at Alzheimer’s & Dementia journal last month.
Kyra Clarke, a doctorate student at UT Health San Antonio and one of the authors of the February review, said Snowdon opted to use Catholic sisters for the monumental study after he “realized that studying nuns came with many advantages for dementia research.”
“Normally, it’s hard to pinpoint what causes some people to develop dementia while others remain healthy because people can have very different lifestyles, environments, and biology — some smoke, some don’t; some have better access to health care than others; some may be more genetically disposed to disease,” she said.
“But Catholic sisters from the same order share the same environment for most of their adult lives: similar marital histories, housing, nutrition, health care, income, and social networks,” she pointed out.
“It is difficult to find a community of people with such consistent
