Study finds dementia rates declining

A score of 0 to 6 indicating dementia, 7 to 11 indicating cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) and those scoring 12 or more corresponded to normal cognition. That positive news emerged yesterday in a study in JAMA Internal Medicine showing that in percentage terms, the number of demented people 65 and older fell by 25% between 2000 and 2012. As it is, an estimated 5 million Americans 65 and older are afflicted with Alzheimer’s or other dementia. Another test to measure memory and limitations in activities of daily living was also part of the study.

Studies on brain-training exercises have had conflicting results. So is this declining rate of Dementia real?

There is a suggestion that higher levels of education are protecting the brain from the disease.

Langa, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan and colleagues analyzed data from individuals in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) in 2000 (n =10,546) and 2012 (n =10,511).

Dementia has multiple causes and types.

A direct relationship links education to dementia.

While the prevalence of dementia cases dropped, the average amount of education in the study population increased.

Participants in the 2012 cohort had nearly one more year of education compared with their counterparts in the 2000 cohort (12.7 years versus 11.8 years; P .001). “These differences in education and wealth may actually be creating disparities in brain health and, by extension, the likelihood of being able to work and be independent in our older years”. The process offsets the symptoms of dementia from happening.

In the BBC News website, Professor Brayne said, “These findings are incredibly important for the world and underlie the importance of access to education”.

“There are different things that can cause dementia”. Older age, having a history of stroke or diabetes, being African American or Hispanic, and being underweight were each associated with increased odds of dementia.

It is possible that better medication dampened their negative impact.

From the results there was a clear indicator that the rate at which people were developing dementia had declined.

In spite of the declining cases of dementia, the disease poses as the prevalent killer past year in Wales and England. But the Alzheimer’s Association says that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer people with Alzheimer’s. The procedure moved dementia in the rankings. Previous research has shown weight loss may precede dementia by several years and that late-life obesity may be healthier than being underweight. To address this issue, we urgently need to see the government invest in long-term studies that tell us how dementia is changing in the population’. But because dementia is such a complicated condition, and doesn’t appear the same way in each patient, it’s hard to isolate which lifestyle factors directly impact the brain’s decline over the years, and which apparent correlations are simply coincidence.