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Regularly volunteering or informally helping people outside one's home may buffer against accelerated decline in memory and thinking for people with a major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, according to new research led by The University of Texas at Austin.

The study, recently published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, focused on people who carry the APOE ε4 gene variant, the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's and one associated with faster cognitive decline. After analyzing 22 years of data from nearly 18,000 U.S. adults, researchers found substantially slower cognitive decline among those who began and sustained volunteering or other helping activities outside the home, like supporting friends, neighbors or relatives. The association was strongest among people at the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer's.

Researchers estimated that people at the highest genetic risk who began and sustained helping others reached the same significant level of cognitive impairment on a screening tool almost two years later than those who did not engage in those activities.

"Very few pharmaceutical or lifestyle approaches have been shown to slow the decline driven by this gene variant," said Sae Hwang Han, a UT associate professor of human development and family sciences and lead author of the study. "But we found helping others—a free, accessible behavior—was linked to markedly slower cognitive decline for this group."

The study found that even modest amounts of helping others provided benefits.

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