A new study of Chicago residents reinforces the view that elderly people who participate in mentally challenging activities have a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease than those who rarely engage in such activities.

Dr. Robert S. Wilson of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center reported in the journal Neurology on a study of 842 people from the general population with an average age of 76. In the course of the study, 139 of the participants developed Alzheimer's.

The researchers tracked the amount of time each participant engaged in 7 common activities, including watching television; listening to the radio; reading newspapers, magazines and books; playing games, such as cards, checkers or crosswords or other puzzles; and going to museums.

"On average, a person with infrequent cognitive activity was two times more likely to develop disease than a person with frequent cognitive activity," the researchers reported.

The researchers also tracked the amount of time participants spent engaged in such physical activities as walking, running, gardening, dancing, golf, bowling, bike riding and swimming, and concluded that participation in these activities did not appear to affect the risk of Alzheimer's.

Other sources: Neurology