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Study author Valgeir Thorvaldsson of Goteberg University in Sweden said the start of the decline is different for various cognitive abilities -- for example, perceptual speed, which measures how quickly people can compare figures, begins declining nearly 15 years before death. Spatial ability starts declining nearly eight years before death and verbal ability starts declining about 6 1/2 years before death, Thorvaldsson said.

The study involved 288 people with no dementia who were followed from age 70 to death, with an average age at death of 84. The participants' mental skills were measured up to 12 times over a period of 30 years and they were evaluated to make sure they hadn't developed dementia.

"These changes are different and separate from the changes in thinking skills that occur as people get older", Thorvaldsson said in a statement. "We found accelerated changes in people's mental skills that indicated a terminal decline phase years before death."

The findings are published in the journal Neurology.

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