Daniel Barrett authored the following press release for the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
About a million Americans per year are expected to develop dementia by 2060, a rate that’s about double today’s known patient load, according to a revealing new study co-authored by researchers the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
After age 55, people have about a four in 10 chance of showing signs of the condition, if they live long enough. Despite that expected trend, the onset of the debilitating cognitive condition can still be slowed down with lifestyle changes in midlife, researchers noted.
“Our study findings are indeed sobering, with a 42 percent lifetime risk of developing dementia after age 55,” said Dr. Thomas H. Mosley, director of The Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia (MIND) Center at UMMC and the Robbie and Dudley Hughes MIND Center Chair. “The good news is that our work at The MIND Center and other researchers have identified several medical and lifestyle factors that may help to slow or prevent dementia.”
Mosley said some of those steps include managing high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, controlling diabetes, quitting smoking, increasing physical activity and managing obesity, as well as stroke prevention, treatment for hearing loss and encouraging older adults to stay cognitively and socially engaged.
“It’s never too late to start taking steps to lessen your risk for dementia, and the earlier in life you start, the larger the reduction in risk will be,” he said.
The findings wrapped up an analysis of data from the long-running Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, or ARIC, Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The MIND Center aims to find new ways to slow or prevent dementia, the most common type of which is Alzheimer’s disease. Mosley and Dr. Gwen Windham, director of the Neuro-Epidemiology Core at the center, co-authored the study, published in Nature Medicine. The overall research team involved dozens of researchers at 10 institutions.
About 27 percent of the ARIC study’s 15,000 participants across four states were Black and primarily from Jackson, which helps national and local researchers’ efforts studying dementia.
“We’ve known for a long time that dementia poses a substantial public health burden,” Windham said. “This drives our research efforts to identify early risk factors and contribute to the development of interventions and medications to preserve brain function and promote healthy aging.”
Previous studies showed about 6 million Americans have dementia, with about 14% of men and 23% of women developing forms of dementia during their life. The ARIC study has tracked heart health and cognitive function in its study pool since the late 1980s. In 2010, Mosley and others began the ARIC Neurocognitive Study, which produced this week’s findings and aims to study how the brain ages.
Only 4% of those studied developed dementia between 55 and 75 years old, said by researchers to be a key window for protecting brain health. The risk for dementia jumps to 20% by age 85 and 42% by 95.
Risks after 55 were 35% for men and 48% for women, researchers noted, citing a longer life expectancy in women for the difference. Black Americans studied had a slightly higher risk, at 44%, than white participants, at 41%.
“These updated numbers, derived using information from a large sample of Mississippi residents, will be critical for understanding the impact on people and resources, for developing preventive and treatment services, and for allocating resources to serve people at risk or who are affected by this devastating condition,” Windham said.
13 comments:
Obesity, obesity, obesity…the cause of most of the medical problems in the US.
At some point, we're going to have to have a serious adult conversation about end of life care and choices. How much in resources are we going to continue to use in keeping folks existing, in a mostly feeble, barely awake state, for years and years? Also for terminal illnesses, doctors need to prescribe a pill with instructions, "when you can't take it any long, take this." In my small town several elderly folks in extreme pain have ended their life with gunfire. There needs to be better options.
I see no mention of a certain something thrust upon the public, around 2021. Dementia is listed among its negative manifestations. But the Medical Industry is still pushing that lucrative something at the public, so it's no surprise.
Also, among the strategies for avoiding Dementia, I see that the most effective one is not mentioned. Dementia is big money for the Medical Industrial Complex - a whole class of MedSlaves, who can never escape, alive. So, naturally, effective deterrents will not be mentioned.
Then, there's the grotesque English with which the article is written. "at ___ years old", is the most heinous example.
My wife has shown gradual memory problems for two years, which she acknowledges, but feels insulted if I suggest an appointment with a neurologist (who is also a family friend). We are both over 70.
What’s this - science? Not today silly
Along with 11:17 AM's comment about "obesity", which I absolutely agree with, nobody wants to talk about the continued use and prescribing of statin drugs. Until we come to terms with this 'cholesterol is bad' myth, the cases of dementia will most certainly continue to rise. Statin drugs, along with so many other things, are one of the greatest lies ever sold to American society. I for one will NEVER take a statin no matter how high my cholesterol gets!!
Before anything else, you both may want to read, 'Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind', by Doctor Georgia Ede. Dr. Ben Bikman and Dr. Paul Mason (both in-print, and with videos available via YouTube, Rumble, etc., can verify what Ede posits. I believe there's an online way to get Ede's book, if that's more convenient for you (My librarian cousins says she did that. But I think she ENJOYS being crazy, so who knows?).
The growing consensus, though, is that the elderly brain RUNS BETTER ON KETONES. Learning how to get into Ketosis, is the trick (in my personal opinion - and the surgeons in my brood, agree). Too, you may wish to google the term 'Polypharmacy' (being on way too many meds). One of Polypharmacy's more common manifestations, seems to be a hastening of Dementia (or Dementia-like symptoms).
wait. what? get away from me!
1:21 Is exactly on target. Statin drugs Anticholinergics and benzodiazepines, have been linked to an increased risk of dementia. Common examples include antihistamines like Benadryl, certain antidepressants, and anxiety medications such as Xanax and Valium. That isn’t to say that other factors contribute to dementia, they do. Sadly, the pharmaceutical industry pays big money to influence if not control the thinking of doctors and the medical industry.
We have so much dementia for two reasons. First, better health practices and modern medicine have enbled us to outlive our brains. Second, diagnosis is so much better, so there’s more counted (and more boomers to count within). This is similar to the explosions in the diagnoses of many other diseases, it’s often the improved pracrices and capabilities. Fortunately that also enables earlier treatment.
Agree with 4:29 pm that the boomers (post WWII babies) have always been a large blimp in the population. We are dying out now.
I would also point out that what is now called Alzheimer's or dementia was once lumped together as "chronic brain syndrome". We saw cases of cognitive decline without personality changes and changes in personality and behavior without cognitive decline. We took into consideration the initial cognitive skills and personality traits of the individual being diagnosed. If someone had a very high IQ and advanced education, the cognitive decline could be missed. Conversely, those who never have been average or slightly below average but managed social promotions or acquired skills by tutoring and determination are not newly impaired.
Without a baseline test, I saw one of my friends who was never very smart but was attractive and personable and hard working get diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I was stunned. That person never had a good memory or sense of direction in their entire life. Someone very bright who went to a good school would have been doing the cognitive section of the current test in the 5th grade in their Weekly Reader or on the paper menu in family restaurants. Someone who is suddenly ill tempered and easily agitated and has trouble getting alone with others after a lifetime of congeniality, can be missed entirely with current testing.
The current cognitive test was a brain game played in good elementary schools to identify the brightest students. The same "games" were on paper menus at family restaurant or offered in our Weekly Reader. WWII parents were big on education. They valued it as a lifetime advantage. Our parents weren't "threatened" if their children were more educated than they had been. They were thrilled.
9:57 - Get back to your room. Family time in the group-room has ended! See you at Bingo, tomorrow at 2:00.
This may be a purely personal experience, but every single one of the people I know who have developed dementia, including Alzheimers, have been unusually bright people. Examples? My brother who scored 98% on national medical boards, a dear friend who ran a very successful antiques business, my friend who.... well you get the idea. I wish someone would do a study on this aspect. I, of course, feel perfectly safe.
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