Among 3,513 adults in the UK Whitehall II cohort, individuals who maintained youthful cognitive performance into late life — dubbed SuperAgers — were more likely to be female (OR=1.30), highly educated (OR=1.23), free of hypertension (OR=0.76), less depressed, more socially active (OR=1.03), and consuming more fruits and vegetables (OR=1.08). SuperAgers were defined as adults 65+ who outperformed sex-specific midlife norms on verbal memory and fluency tests. Despite statistically significant associations, all effect sizes were modest, and collectively these dementia risk factors did not fully explain exceptional cognitive aging.
This preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, contributes meaningfully to the growing SuperAger literature by applying a well-validated longitudinal cohort to a clearly operationalized phenotype. The Whitehall II dataset is among the most rigorous in epidemiological aging research, lending credibility to the findings. However, several limitations temper enthusiasm. The cohort skews male (74%), reflecting the original civil-servant sampling frame, which may bias female SuperAger estimates. Associations are observational and cannot establish causation — reverse causality is plausible, since cognitively sharper individuals may naturally maintain healthier behaviors. Effect sizes, while statistically significant, are small enough that individual-level prediction remains limited. The finding that modifiable risk factors explain only part of SuperAger status aligns with emerging evidence pointing toward genetic and neurobiological resilience mechanisms — including tau protein resistance and greater cortical thickness — as important independent contributors. For health-conscious adults, the practical takeaway is nevertheless actionable: managing blood pressure, sustaining social engagement, and improving diet quality remain among the most evidence-backed strategies for preserving late-life cognition.