Healthy habits are cutting dementia risk claims new research paper
LOS ANGELES: More people are getting dementia than ever before, but research has shown the chances of having dementia at any given age are lower.
A US study is the latest to highlight this paradox, demonstrating that between 2000 and 2016 in any given age group the prevalence of dementia fell by about a third. The decline is probably because of healthier lifestyles and better education. However, because we are living longer, the public burden of the disease continues to grow.
For the latest research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists examined the health records of more than 20,000 people aged over 65.
They found that since 2000 the prevalence of dementia has gone from about 10.2 per cent to 7 per cent in men, and from 13.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent in women. One of the most impressive declines was among women over 85: in 2000, some 45 per cent had dementia compared with 33 per cent in 2016.
One of the best predictors was education. In 2016 those with degrees had about a 4 per cent risk of dementia, a third that of those who had not graduated from secondary school. The authors said the effect in women may reflect social changes such as working, which may build a “cognitive reserve”.