The majority of Mexican American older adults will experience varying degrees of cognitive decline, according to a recent study. A substantial proportion of older Mexican Americans, however, are able to maintain high cognitive functioning into advanced age, despite the high prevalence of risk factors for cognitive decline in this population. Researchers sought to identify distinct trajectories for global cognition, memory, and non-memory domains among 1,336 Mexican American adults ≥75 years. 3 trajectories were identified for global cognition, memory, and non-memory domains. They found:

• Nearly 31% of the sample maintained high global cognition (persistent high), 52.6% experienced slight decline (decline but high), and 15% experienced severe decline in global cognition (decline to low).
• Over 95% of participants classified in the decline to low trajectory for global cognition were also classified as decline to low for memory and non-memory.
• This high level of consistency for memory and non-memory domains was observed for the decline but high (97.0%) and persistent high (93.7) trajectory classes.