The risk of dementia, unstoppable

Posted on January 17, 2009
Filed Under Dementia |

Although in recent years, advances in medicine have been observed increases in life expectancy and improvements in many areas of health, yet there are major increases in certain diseases under age. Dementia and severe cognitive impairment are among the disorders that appear with age, both in incidence (number of new cases) and prevalence (overlapping cases).

Many factors have been associated with a reduced risk of chronic disease such as cancer or heart disease, are also associated with lower mortality. Recently, these factors have also been studied in relation to Alzheimer’s disease and have also seen a reduction in the risk during periods of monitoring.

In conclusion

This study shows that risk reduction at relatively early ages increase life expectancy. And the extension of life leads to the emergence of new cases, bringing the number of cases remains unchanged.

These variables are often associated with social class and educational level, which can be attributed to lifestyle and healthy practices. In this regard, it has been shown in many studies that social class and education are associated with a reduction in rates of dementia.

We have clear evidence that individuals with dementia and cognitive impairment have an excess mortality and lower life expectancies those individuals who do not. However, we have little information on the proportion of the population of a certain age who die with dementia or severe cognitive impairment.

The analysis presented in this study, Dementia before death in aging societies. The promise of prevention and really investigate the prevalence of dementia and severe cognitive impairment in the period before death in a population group. Investigates whether those that are expected to have a comparative advantage in risk of dementia at a given age is much less likely to die with dementia or severe cognitive impairment in relation to those most at risk.

The authors conducted a cohort study, ie, monitoring of patients older than 65 years during a period of 10 years and determine the prevalence of dementia and severe cognitive impairment in the year preceding the death of these individuals, taking into account their age, sex, social class and educational level.

The results showed that the overall prevalence of dementia at death was 30%. There was a strong increasing trend for dementia with age from 6% for patients aged 65 to 69 years at the time of his death to 58% for those patients 95 years and older at the time of his death. Even higher prevalence’s were observed for severe cognitive impairment, with similar patterns. People of higher social class and with more education had significantly fewer severe cognitive impairment and dementia before death, but the absolute difference was small (below 10%).

The authors conclude that reducing the risk of dementia at a certain age will lead to a further extension of life by bringing the cumulative risk will remain high. Aging populations are likely to result in an increase in the number of people who die with dementia and severe cognitive impairment, even if we take preventive programs.

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