What scientists have learned from studying people over 90 | 60 Minutes Archive

60 Minutes rewind We're a nation living longer and longer over the next 30 Years the number of Americans age 90 and above is expected to triple and an NIH funded research study called 90 Plus at the University of California Irvine is trying to learn all it can right now from a group of men and women who've already managed to get there six years ago we first reported on their first set of findings factors associated with longer life exercise moderate drinking of alcohol and caffeine social engagement and our favorite putting on a few pounds as we

age the 90 plus study's focus is now on memory and dementia what they've learned and what they haven't Drew us back as did the 90 pluss take a quick look at when we first met them in 2014 my birthday is February 7th 1918 I was born in August 25th 1920 and I'm 93 plus June 15 1918 and it was I'm sure a lovely day the men and women we met 6 years ago had all agreed to be checked out by the 90 Plus study team top to bottom every 6 months big smile their facial muscles

excellent how they walk how fast they can stand up and sit down fantastic and critically how they think now spell World backwards d l r o w three they were an impressive and active group a B7 gunner in world I a fellow World War II vet who drove a convertible a 95-year-old speed Walker ballroom dancers I asked them aren't you going to ask us any questions about our sex life and they said no and sadly some who had begun to struggle with dementia what is today's date today's day mhm today State what's the oldest person

you have seen I have seen several 116 year olds neurologist Claudia Kos the 90 plus studies lead investigator says studying the oldest old is increasingly important half of all children born today in the United States in Europe is going to reach their 103rd or fourth birthday half yes half the children born today are going to live to a 100 203 or four you know I don't feel a day older than I was yesterday they invited us back six years later and we found some study participants like Helen wild the ballroom dancer thriving then I do

like so 10 times now 99 Helen showed us how she exercises in her chair stuff like that how you doing Jeff good to see what's going on Lou Lou torado the World War II Gunner turned 100 in August Lou was using Zoom when he was a kid most homes didn't have a radio do you have an iPhone I have an iPhone yep you on Facebook uh yes do you use Siri yeah I tell her every evening wake me up at 6:30 tomorrow morning and she does yes who is our current president president is Trump who

was the president before Trump uh Obama because of covid-19 the 90 plus study is doing cognitive tests by phone to subract seven from 100 Lou and Helen acce them and keep subtracting seven 93 86 79 her memory is better than mine but one of our favorite 90 pluss from six years ago Ruthie stall is not so lucky back then at 95 she was zipping around in her lime green bug I am flying all over the place but today at 102 she didn't remember our having met and what is your first name Leslie that's a nice

name thank you Ruthie is as charming and upbeat as ever but her memory is failing the current president or the president before him I'll take either no I can't do you remember your parents no no oh my that's funny I don't remember them is it frustrating when you can't remember no no it just passes on to something else Dr kwos says most people probably even most doctors would assume Ruth's memory problems stem from Alzheimer's disease but scientists are finding out more and more about the complexities of what causes dementia you hear people say she got

Alzheimer's he has Alzheimer's when they really should say dementia that's exactly right dementia is a loss of thinking abilities that affects your memory your language it's a syndrome it's a syndrome kind kind of like headache is a syndrome you can have a headache because you've got a brain tumor or you can have one because you drank too much and it's a same with dementia the we were sad to learn that some of the 90 plus participants we met in 2014 have passed away but by donating their brains as Ted rosenbom did they are very much

still part of the study contributing some of its Most Fascinating and confounding results after after a participant dies the 90 plus team gathers to review mounds of data now because of Co they gather on Zoom videos from visit 2 so tell me what you're going to do when you go home today Ted's test results showed years of memory problems as we had seen six years ago give me a hint the 90 plus team concluded that Ted probably had Alzheimer's disease but then awaited results from their collaborators a team of Pathologists at Stanford University who independently

examined Ted's brain they don't know anything except the brain they've got in front of them and then you come together and then we come together and it's like a reveal party the definition of Alzheimer's disease is having the proteins amalo and TOA often called plaques and tangles in the brain okay the home stretch but when the Stanford team made their report Ted's brain didn't have either as you may see without even swimming in the section is clear it's clean we're negative for beta amid here it actually looks awfully good it actually does yes you sit

around you look at that what do you conclude the only pathology we found in his head actually was tdp43 the story will continue after this tdp43 a breakthrough it's a newly identified cause of dementia a protein originally found in ALS patients that chos now believes accounts for up to one in five cases of Dementia in people over 90 can you find out if you have tdp43 while you're alive not yet and you can't find out if you have two other dementia causing conditions either tiny Strokes called micro infarcts that damage brain tissue and hippocampal sclerosis

a shrinking and scarring of part of the brain so it's likely that many people in their '90s who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's what year oh may actually have something else there's a whole lot of stuff that goes on in the brain that we have no way of diagnosing during life so we get a lot of those surprises but we also get surprises where people have an off awful lot of pathology in their brain a lot of Alzheimer's disease a lot of TDP disease and they still turn out to be normal let me hold a chair

for you that's what happened with Henry Torell Helen Wild's ballroom dancing partner who joked about studying sex over 90 Henry died at a 100 of cancer mentally sharp as ever we should all be so lucky but his brain told a different story beta amalo I don't even have to zoom in flid very positive uh positive as well the Stanford team found the highest level of plaques and Tangles and tdp43 tdp43 especially stunning since more than one pathology typically means more severe dementia so he was a huge surprise he was one of our surprising 90-year-olds who

managed to have good cognition in the face of things in their brain that should cause dementia it used to be that when a person like Henry with clear thinking was found to have plaques and Tangles scientists assumed dementia was just a matter of time but now they're thinking about it in a new way that maybe certain people have protection against dementia a phenomenon they're calling resilience to prove it though they need to follow people who are still alive enter convertible driving Sid shirro from our story in 2014 let's see Sid had a pet scan back

then for the study which reveals significant amounts of amalo in his brain the question was would dementia be around the corner or might Sid somehow be resilient happy birthday to you thank you Sid turned 99 this summer how old do you feel I always say 69 Sid has circulation problems that affect his breathing but his memory well he told us about buying his first car 80 years ago for $18 in a pool hall as 31 Chevy convertible with a rumble seat a rumble seat and I didn't know how to drive you won it in a

pool hall did you win it on a bet I didn't win it I bought it you bought it I gave him $18 who sold a car for $18 he needed the money to shoot P so I know he's got at least two pathologies in his head I know he's got you know probably high amounts of Alzheimer's and I know he's got some vascular disease and we tested him just a couple weeks ago and good morning he did great please tell me how many Nickel in a dollar 20 how many quarters in6 $75 27 wow you

are quick so is that resilience I think that is definitely resilience it might be what resilience is all about could it be a Jee it absolutely could be or maybe even more likely multiple genes or combinations of genes here's my observation okay you knew more six years ago than you do now there are just so many questions that we don't know the answers to more questions that is really a brilliant observation and what science is all about for every new answer two new questions for every new discovery like tdp43 dementia and especially resilience new Mysteries

to solve so like its participants the 90 plus study is keeping at it trying to help the rest of us make it to age 102 with Ruthie Spirit but memory intact it's a shame it's a shame cuz there's a lot I could remember and I'll bet you had a wonderful life oh I have it's still going on thank goodness