The difference in these scores are relatively low to begin with (9 v's 7) and these are only mean averages. The age groups varied massively over the 5 years (32 and 62) which would be (37-67) and a study of 2223 people (male/female)
None of this was linked to overall fitness - and its fair to say a person with a BMI 30 may be in the category of 'fat fit' and BMI 20 (Slim-unfit)
There was no divison between males and females either...or general state of health.
There was four tests done and presumably only one (memory recall) has the BMI factored into it.
“This slight improvement may be due to the relatively young age of the participants, who likely had a low incidence of cognitive decline over five years,” said Cournot. “The improvement could also be due to an increased familiarization with the tests at follow-up.”
Its not that these statistics arent required in the long run but these get published very very quickly and ruled as fact. Very quickly.
I aint a statistican or i would be loaded but it was part of my course at Trinity and good reading material is 'how to lie with statistics' by Darell Duff
Now dont get me wrong here, i just find that certain things are not really based on anything but pseudo-guessing...and posed as fact
I am all for getting these problems of life and suffering gone and getting to the bottom of it all...
Maybe its not necessarily the 'usual suspects' of smoking, weight and alcohol and something that completely overlooked...
Ivy