Dementia is an issue that touches every single person on Earth in one way or another. At this stage, it is estimated that 1 in 20 people over 65 have dementia, and 1 in 5 people over 80 have it. Naturally, this doesn’t just impact the individual but also those connected to them. However, this is becoming an even bigger societal issue as advances in medicine and science lead to an ever-increasing life expectancy. Besides the increased life expectancy, the lowering global birth rate means the average age is steadily increasing. It is estimated that by 2050, 1 in 5 people will be over 60. With age being the most significant contributing factor to the development of dementia, this is becoming of increasing concern to many experts.
It’s not all bad news, though; in fact, in just the last few years, the amount of progress made in both the study and addressing of the disease has grown in leaps and bounds. Many countries have begun to take notice of the impact this disease has on their population and have implemented sweeping plans to address it. Researchers have identified the leading risk factors that can lead to developing or worsening the condition and have been working to disseminate this information to the public. While the likelihood of a cure is still somewhere over the horizon, for now, we can take comfort that the old adage, “Prevention is better than cure,” holds true in this case.
There are two categories that we should all take note of: modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors are those that deal with lifestyle and our day-to-day choices. This doesn’t mean these are all fully in our control, but how we behave around them can have a massive impact on the likelihood that we will develop the disease. According to the Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, these are the 12 most important modifiable risk factors1:
- Education
- Hypertension
- Hearing loss
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Depression
- Physical inactivity
- Diabetes
- Social isolation
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Head injury
- Air pollution
Again, not all of these influences, like diabetes, for example, are within our control, but how we live with them often is. We can make good choices surrounding these aspects, and by doing so, we can mitigate the risk to ourselves. These efforts will obviously be hindered by things like socio-economic status, biological sex, location, etc., which is where government interventions will come into play. As previously stated, many countries’ governments are taking notice and developing infrastructure to simplify their populations’ efforts at risk reduction. Many Western countries have been campaigning for years to reduce cigarette usage and promote healthier eating habits, and as a result, in the last 20 years, the risk of developing dementia has dropped 25%2. Over in Pakistan, a country with woefully low access to education, particularly for young girls, many interest groups are fighting to increase access to schooling across the board. Education from a young age can have a drastic effect on the brain’s chemistry and makeup, which, in turn, can protect it from the symptoms of dementia in the years to come. There are many cases of people living with dementia for years but never developing symptoms because their brains had access to “grey-matter reserves,” which are developed when a child is afforded the opportunity to grow and use their brain in their formative years.
However, besides the modifiable risk factors, there are naturally a few non-modifiable factors. The three biggest are age, sex, and genetics. There’s little to nothing one can do about these, but just being aware of the associated risks can empower individuals to mitigate said risks. To that end, Australia has started a campaign to increase genetic screening of infants to detect predispositions in hopes of catching and treating earlier. For many, getting tested for genetic predispositions is scary; they would rather not know than have the burden of that knowledge weighing on them. But the sooner you have access to all the facts, the sooner you are able to take charge of what is still within your control. Early detection is becoming more important the more we learn. In the past, a diagnosis could only be reached once symptoms began to manifest, and by then, it would often be too late to manage. But with so many advances in early detection, particularly with AI and machine learning enabling massive improvements in unbiased cognitive testing4, we are able to drastically change the quality of life a person with a positive diagnosis experiences. Dementia no longer has to be a death sentence.
In conclusion, though there is still a long way to go, both in terms of individual responsibility but also at the societal level, there is also much that can give us hope. Researchers are making new breakthroughs all the time, and countries are waking up to the responsibility they have to address the increasing concern this disease causes. Instead of dementia being a near certainty as we get older, we can now mitigate it to such a degree that we can live practically unhindered lives even if we do develop it. All in all, as we leave 2023 behind and move into 2024, we can move with just a little more hope than we had before.
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