Advancing age, impending death, and declining cognition

摘要

Loss of cognition in late life traditionally has been viewed from a developmental perspective much like the growth of cognitive ability in early life. Beginning in the 1960s, Kleemeier1 and others instead hypothesized that cognition declines in the last few years of life and diat late life cognitive decline is due more to this terminal drop than to growing older. Although the hypothesis stimulated considerable scientific interest, little supporting data emerged, and a 2002 review concluded: "It is still not clear whether terminal change exists."