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Incidence of AZ fallen by about 1/3rd over past 40 years

terei
terei Member Posts: 976
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edited July 11 in I Am a Caregiver (General Topics)

https://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/dementia-incidence-still-dropping-birth-cohort-data-say-yes

This is encouraging. Maintaining good overall health has really helped.

Comments

  • sandwichone123
    sandwichone123 Member Posts: 1,385
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    This is very heartening. Thank you—I've shared with my family. :-)

    I love the graph showing that my dad (91) has about 1/3 the risk his mother had. She did develop dementia, and he's been really worried ever since.

  • SusanB-dil
    SusanB-dil Member Posts: 967
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    I'll take some good news! Thanks for posting.

  • harshedbuzz
    harshedbuzz Member Posts: 6,936
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    @terei

    Thanks for sharing that.

    It would be interesting if the types of dementia were able to be teased out. It's easy to for a lay person attribute a drop in Vascular or ARDs to healthier lifestyles and medications to promote cardiovascular health and vaccines like Shingrix but what about Alzheimer's specifically or FTD or LBD.

    I also wonder how the trend towards more years of formal education impacted this. It was not unusual for people in previous generations to leave the classroom as tweens or teens compared to the vast majority of students graduating from high school. I wonder, too, if the higher rates of higher education being seen among young woman will change the incidence of dementia in women as a group.

    HB

  • Victoriaredux
    Victoriaredux Member Posts: 337
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    I'd like to see if early on set numbers are up or down. I didn't notice EOD 10-20 years ago like I notice today. Right when the college loans/mortgages for mom& dad are hopefully paid off and their kids are starting their lives BAM . Leaving the surviving spouse at 60 ish with not much retirement .

  • Quilting brings calm
    Quilting brings calm Member Posts: 3,273
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    Even if the incidences per capita are down, the large number of baby boomers means an increase in the total number of PWD.

  • Larrybee
    Larrybee Member Posts: 13
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    edited July 23

    I would like to mention two reasons the rate of dementia has been reduced.

    1. The passage of the clean air laws in the 60s and 70s. I remember running in a track meet in Long Beach, California in 1971. My eyes were burning and I could hardly breathe. Now the air is much more breathable in California and around the country. Air pollution has been proven to be a major cause of dementia.

    2. The passage of the laws banning artificially hydrogenated vegetable oils such shortenings for baked goods. These processed fats have been around for over a hundred years and have been proved to increase rates of dementia as well as heart disease.

    I am a believer that the government should be active in setting the rules so that we can lead longer and healthier lives.

Commonly Used Abbreviations


DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
Read more

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