Dementia on the downslide, especially among people with more education

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-11/uomh-dot111716.php

Public Release: 21-Nov-2016
Dementia on the downslide, especially among people with more education
Positive brain health trend may cushion blow on society, but doesn't lessen impact on individual patients and caregivers, U-M researchers say
University of Michigan Health System

In a hopeful sign for the health of the nation's brains, the percentage of American seniors with dementia is dropping, a new study finds.

The downward trend has emerged despite something else the study shows: a rising tide of three factors that are thought to raise dementia risk by interfering with brain blood flow, namely diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

Those with the most years of education had the lowest chances of developing dementia, according to the findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine by a team from the University of Michigan. This may help explain the larger trend, because today's seniors are more likely to have at least a high school diploma than those in the same age range a decade ago.

With the largest generation in American history now entering the prime years for dementia onset, the new results add to a growing number of recent studies in the United States and other countries that suggest a downward trend in dementia prevalence. These findings may help policy-makers and economic forecasters adjust their predictions for the total impact of Alzheimer's disease and other conditions.

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In all, 11.6 percent of those interviewed in 2000 met the criteria for dementia, while in 2012, only 8.8 percent did. Over that time, the average number of years of education a senior had rose by nearly an entire year, from 12 to 13.

"It does seem that the investments this country made in education after the Second World War are paying off now in better brain health among older adults," says David R. Weir, Ph.D., senior author of the paper and director of the Health and Retirement Study. "But the number of older adults is growing so rapidly that the overall burden of dementia is still going up."

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"More Baby Boomers have completed some higher education than any previous generation, but the trend toward more education appears to be leveling off in the U.S. And there are clear disparities in educational attainment according to wealth and ethnicity," he says. "These differences in education and wealth may actually be creating disparities in brain health and, by extension, the likelihood of being able to work and be independent in our older years."

Years of formal education was the only marker tracked among the study participants. But, says Langa, it is likely that the other ways that people challenge and use their brains throughout life--reading, social interactions, what occupation they have, and how long they work -- may also have an impact on dementia risk in later life.

All of these pursuits can help build up a person's "cognitive reserve" of brain pathways that can survive the assault of the physical factors that lead to dementia.

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