As longevity has been increasing worldwide, age-related dementia has, of course, become a much bigger issue. The number ofcases worldwide is expected to triple to 153 million by 2050.

Recently, Dr. Stephen Post, an expert in age-related memory loss, discussed what dementia does and doesn’t mean. Unfortunately, a diagnosis of dementia is often treated as if it were a diagnosis of rabies, with respect to the social outcome. People may stop visiting or even thinking about a close relative, supposing that it doesn’t matter. After all, they reason, Grandma isn’t really “there” anymore, is she?

On the contrary, Dr. Post stresses, it matters a great deal that we don’t forget these “deeply forgetful” people, as he prefers to call them.

New risk factors for dementia identified

The recent news is mixed — but that’s good news, considering that, at one time, almost all the news was bad. For example, new drugs proposed to treat the Alzheimer form of dementia have proven disappointing:

Like beacons of light in the dark, two drugs have emerged over the past two years as the first “disease-modifying” treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. However, these drugs are expensive, complicated to administer, and can cause dangerous side effects. Most importantly, numerous researchers think the drugs’ benefits will be imperceptible to patients and their families.

Ross Pomeroy, “Don’t buy the hype on new ‘breakthrough’ Alzheimer’s treatments,” Big Think, March 18, 2024

But that’s not the whole story. Science writer Ross Pomeroy goes on to say that a consortium of dementia experts believes that roughly 40% of cases could be prevented or delayed by changes in lifestyle or environment, for example by reducing air pollution and alcohol consumption.

Maintaining a healthy blood pressure might be the single best preventative measure. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that people using blood pressure medications lowered their risk by about one-third. Moreover, studies suggest that learning a second language could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms by five years on average.

Pomeroy, “‘Breakthrough’ Alzheimer’s treatments”

Second language learning? Well, it exercises the brain at a time when the brain is in danger of, perhaps dangerously, slowing down.

So this is where we are at: We are learning more about how to prevent and delay dementia; we are just not able to reverse it.

An article at The Guardian, last week told us that almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed. Researchers cite fourteen factors:

Based on the latest available evidence, the report adds two risk factors that are associated with 9% of dementia cases. About 7% of cases are linked to high low-density lipoprotein or “bad” cholesterol in midlife from about the age of 40, while 2% of cases are attributable to untreated vision loss in later life.

These new risk factors are in addition to 12 identified by the Lancet commission in 2020, which together are attributable to about 36% of dementia cases, according to Livingston. They are lower levels of education, hearing impairment, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption; traumatic brain injury, air pollution and social isolation. Andrew Gregory, “Almost half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed,study finds,” The Guardian, July 31, 2024 The paper is open access.

Much could be written about each of these factors. But it’s worth noting the role of social isolation and physical inactivity because they are not usually medical or psychiatric issues — which means that anyone can help alleviate them.

With diseases that affect older folk, the relationship between prevention and delay is complex: Delay can amount to prevention. For example, if a woman’s lifestyle changes delay dementia until midway through the ninth decade of life, her death may intervene. So dementia never happens to her.

New test for Alzheimer form of dementia

A new blood test promises to provide a quick and simple way to determine whether a patient shows brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia— which affects 6.5 million seniors in the United States. The new blood tests are cheaper and easier than PET scans and spinal taps.

Widespread early diagnosis means that delaying the progress of the disease will become very important over the next few decades.

You may also wish to read: Dementia: New insights in caring for deeply forgetful people. Dr. Stephen Post, an expert in memory disorders, talks to neurosurgeon Michael Egnor about when and how people suddenly remember again. Dr. Post considers it implausible that “rementia,” the sudden, brief return of a personal identity, can be explained purely in material brain terms.

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New studies point to ways we might reduce the effects of dementia. Personality type, tooth decay, and hearing loss may all play a role in how seriously dementia affects a person, according to recent studies. What’s becoming clear is that, while dementia itself may not be preventable, its severity may potentially be mitigated by timely health care interventions.