Here’s some really bad news to start your week – your chances of developing dementia are much higher than previously thought.
Previous research suggested that up to 14% of men and 23% of women in the US would get dementia at some point.
A surprising NYU Langone Health study published Monday found that the risk of dementia is actually 35% for men and 48% for women after age 55, for an average of 42%.
“The results of our study predict a dramatic increase in the burden of dementia in the United States over the coming decades, with 1 in 2 Americans expected to experience cognitive difficulties after age 55,” said study investigator and senior epidemiologist Dr. Josef Coresh, founding director. of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU Langone.
Coresh’s team predicted that the number of new cases of dementia will increase from about 514,000 in 2020 to about 1 million in 2060.
The increase is attributed to an aging population – about 58 million Americans are over 65 — as well as high rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles and poor mental health.
Dementia—the progressive erosion of memory, concentration, and judgment—affects more than 6 million Americans and accounts for more than 100,000 deaths each year.
Most of the risk will be faced by women, seniors 75 and older, black adults and carriers of the APOE 4 gene, which is considered the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Women tend to live longer than men, which gives dementia more time to develop, and black adults often have less access to education, nutritious food and health care opportunities, according to the NYU study’s findings. Langone in the journal Nature Medicine. Seniors over 75 face a 50% risk of dementia.
Coresh said previous research underestimated the risk of dementia due to insufficient documentation in health records and death certificates, minimal monitoring of dementia in the early stages and under-reporting of minority cases.
Coresh’s team analyzed over three decades of data from nearly 16,000 participants in a long-term study that tracked heart health and cognitive function with “intensive surveillance.”
The average age of dementia diagnosis was 81 years, with 17% of participants diagnosed before 75 years.
There is no cure for dementia, but early detection can give patients and their caregivers time to plan for the future.
And while there’s no surefire way to prevent dementia, there are some lifestyle changes you can make to lower your risk.
Coresh told The Post that you should keep your blood pressure under control and get adequate exercise and sleep.
“In older age, treating hearing loss and minimizing the risk of falls and head injury is important,” he said.
Coresh pointed out that only one-third of Americans with hearing loss use hearing aids. He is calling for greater access to affordable hearing aids and policies that address racial disparities in health care.
#Dementia #cases #projected #double #study
Image Source : nypost.com