Dr. Elias and colleagues used cardiovascular risk factor data from the Framingham Heart Study (N= 2,123) in a prospective design allowing them to relate CVD risk factors (including age and gender) to two outcome measures: (1) level of cognitive performance and (2) change in cognitive performance over a 10 year longitudinal study period. The overall goals were to determine the best multivariate combination of biological and psychosocial risk factors for the prediction of lowered cognitive ability in middle-aged and elderly men and women, and to evaluate the relative impact of age, gender, and other biological and psychosocial risk factors on cognitive functioning.