New research overturns assumptions about dementia research

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A survey on the incidence on dementia in England and Wales sheds new light on previous ideas about the condition.
It has long been assumed that the incidence of dementia decreases in the very old. But, according to a new survey from researchers at the UK Medical Research Council, this is not the case.

They looked at 2,500 people from each of five different sites across England and Wales. They divided them into two age groups - 65-74 and over 75. Their findings showed that there was no difference in the incidence of dementia with sex. They also found that the incidence rose with age. Previous research has suggested that incidence levels off with age, but these researchers did not find this to be the case.

There was also, surprisingly perhaps, no difference in dementia incidence with site - whether urban or rural. This is interesting because it's been previously proposed that there is a link between heart disease and dementia. Reducing heart disease, it was argued, might reduce dementia. But there is considerable geographical variation in heart disease incidence - so maybe the link with dementia is not really so clear. The findings of the current study should be helpful in helping formulate public policy towards dementia.

Source
Public Library of Science (www.plosmedicine.com) August 2005 Volume 2(8) e193

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