The risk of developing dementia in western European countries may be set to fall, experts say today.
Many cases of dementia are caused by vascular disease – and prevention and treatment of this has improved, researchers report in The Lancet Neurology.
The researchers say the total numbers of people with dementia in some countries is stabilising – as are numbers of new cases.
The findings come from an analysis of large studies done in the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain.
The British study compared predictions from 1990 with actual numbers of dementia cases among people over the age of 65 in 2011. This showed a 22% difference – with many fewer patients than predicted.
The researchers say that western countries are still likely to need to care for large numbers of patients with dementia – as the number of people over the age of 85 is growing fast.
Researcher Professor Carol Brayne, of Cambridge University, UK, said the findings were "relatively optimistic."
She said: "Incidence and deaths from major cardiovascular diseases have decreased in high-income countries since the 1980s.
"We are now potentially seeing the results of improvements in prevention and treatment of key cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol reflected in the risk of developing dementia."
Lancet Neurology 21 August 2015 [abstract]
Leave a Reply