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US Dementia Rates Drop 24%, New Study Finds (cnn.com)
A new study involving more than 21,000 people across the country finds that dementia rates in people over age 65 fell from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012 -- a decline of 24 percent. CNN reports: The decline in dementia rates translates to about one million fewer Americans suffering from the condition, said John Haaga, director of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the new study. Dementia is a general term for a loss of memory or other mental abilities that's severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease, which is believed to be caused by a buildup of plaques and tangles in the brain, is the most common type of dementia. Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia and occurs after a stroke. The study, which began in 1992, focuses on people over age 50, collecting data every two years. Researchers conduct detailed interviews with participants about their health, income, cognitive ability and life circumstances. The interviews also include physical tests, body measurements and blood and saliva samples. Although researchers can't definitively explain why dementia rates are decreasing, Langa said doctors may be doing a better job controlling high blood pressure and diabetes, which can both boost the risk of age-related memory problems. High blood pressure and diabetes both increase the risk of strokes, which kill brain cells, increasing the risk of vascular dementia. Authors of the study found that senior citizens today are better educated than even half a generation ago. The population studied in 2012 stayed in school 13 years, while the seniors studied in 2000 had about 12 years of education, according to the study. People who are better educated may have more intellectually stimulating jobs and hobbies that help exercise their brains, Langa said. The study has been published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
This makes no sense. If it were true how did Trump get elected?
I wonder if it is part of the theorized behavioral wave resultant from banning Tetraethyllead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The ban is correlated with the lead free generation of young adults having a greatly reduced threshold for criminal violence and murder.
From WIkipedia
Reduction in the average blood lead level is believed to have been a major cause for falling violent crime rates in the United States[52] and South Africa.[53] Researchers including Amherst College economist Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, Department of Housing and Urban Development consultant Rick Nevin, and Howard Mielke of Tulane University, say that declining exposure to lead is responsible for up to a 56% decline in crime from 1992 to 2002.[54]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
He's so out of touch with trends, he even loses his mind when it's going out of style.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
First thing that jump into my mind: Can this be caused by the removal of lead from petrol/gasoline and other consumer products?
This seems to me to be a bit unlikely.
Oh, well then. That changes everything.
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Well, getting really good public health data is hard, because it's expensive to do it in a way that gives you something you can go on, as opposed to something to purely speculate about. For all the limitations of something like the Framingham Heart Study or the Nurses Health Study, they're probably the gold standard when it comes to picking out statistical correlations that might be worth further investigation.
I think, though, if there were an increase in the death rate of dementia patients that was big enough to explain at 24% decline in twelve years we'd probably know it. Either the sampling was wildly biased at one or both ends of that period, or there's something going on. Management of diabetes and high blood pressure is definitely a plausible cause for such a decline because they're both correlated to vascular dementia and stroke.
On a personal note I know what you're going through. My Mom was really intelligent woman, but she had both hypertension and diabetes. The last ten years of her life she had progressive dementia, and it every time I saw her it was like a little bit more of her had slipped away. It encouraged me to get my act together -- without my mind I don't have much to live for, certainly not my looks. I dropped my blood pressure over several years 128/86 to 105/64 through diet and exercise.
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My guess is its more to do with reduced dietary sugar intake across the board. Studies showing statistical correlations between dementia and high-sugar diets have previously been reported on here on Slashdot.