The incidence of dementia in the UK has fallen dramatically in the last 20 years, researchers said yesterday.
The 20% reduction in incidence means there are 40,000 fewer people in the UK than expected.
Researchers from four English universities said their findings cast new light on claims that the world is facing ever increasing rates of dementia as populations age.
The findings come from studies involving some 7,500 people in three regions – in Cambridgeshire, Newcastle and Nottingham.
Researchers interviewed 7,500 pensioners in these districts in the early 1990s and then interviewed another 7,500 people of the same age at the beginning of this decade.
Their findings showed a 20% reduction in dementia rates and suggest there will be about 210,000 new cases of dementia a year in the UK – 74,000 men and 135,000 women.
The research, published yesterday in Nature Communications, involved the universities of Cambridge, Newcastle, Nottingham and East Anglia.
Researcher Professor Carol Brayne, of Cambridge University, said: "Our findings suggest that brain health is improving significantly in the UK across generations, particularly among men, but that deprivation is still putting people at a disadvantage.
"The UK in earlier eras has seen major societal investments into improving population health and this appears to be helping protect older people from dementia."
She added: "Our evidence shows that the so-called dementia ‘tsunami’ is not an inevitability: we can help turn the tide if we take action now."
Professor Fiona Matthews, from Newcastle University, said: "Our findings support a public health approach for long term dementia prevention, although clearly this does not reduce the need for alternative approaches for at-risk groups and for those who develop dementia."
Matthews, FE et al. A two decade comparison of incidence of dementia in individuals aged 65 years and older from three geographical areas of England: results of the Cognitive Function Ageing Study I and II. Nature Communications 19 April 2016
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