As the elderly population in the United States continues to grow, the number of older adults who will suffer from dementia will also increase, but by how much? The results of a new study may surprise you.
Researchers looked at more than 21,000 U.S. adults over 65, using data from the Health and Retirement Study. They found that the prevalence of dementia declined significantly between 2000 and 2012, from about 11.5% down to about 9%.”
Dr Kenneth Langa, a Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan, helped lead the study. He attributes the decline in dementia prevalence to two factors: increases in the education level among this group and better treatments for diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.
“This suggests that a 75 year old today has a lower risk of having dementia today than a 75 year old 10 or 20 years ago,” Dr. Langa says. “Both increases in education and better control of cardiovascular risk factors may be important in explaining some of this decline,” he adds.
Dr. Langa says more work needs to be done both in the U.S. And abroad to keep dementia trends on the decline.
“Even without a big breakthrough in medication or other kind of intervention that might decrease Alzheimer’s risk or change the course of Alzheimer’s, it appears that there’s things we can do decrease risk,” he says.
The number of older adults with dementia in the United States and around the world is expected to grow up to 3-fold by 2050.
