Word: risks
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...Volunteers who scored eight points or higher on the index - which includes older age, worse cognitive function, some heart disease risk factors and the presence of genes linked to Alzheimer's - were at high risk of developing dementia within six years; 56% of these high scorers showed serious mental decline by the end of the study period. Of those scoring lower on the index, deemed at moderate or low risk, 23% were diagnosed with dementia. (Read "Alzheimer's Research Holds Promise...
...Many of the risk factors included in the new screen are familiar: advanced age and the presence of Alzheimer's genes (which are associated with the growth of fatty plaques and tangles in the brain that gum up neural connections), for example, have long been clearly linked to dementia. Even heart disease risk factors are somewhat expected, since recent studies show that the same conditions that boost the risk of heart attack, such as high cholesterol, hypertension and atherosclerosis, may also raise the risk of dementia; the theory is that whatever is causing fat deposits in heart vessels may also...
...some of the elements in the index were more surprising. The research team found, for instance, that patients who were underweight, did not drink alcohol and took longer to put on and button a shirt were also at high risk for dementia. Barnes speculates that fine motor skills, such as those required to button a shirt, may be one of the first things to suffer as neural connections in the brain succumb to dementia. As for the alcohol connection, she suggests that people who drink alcohol may simply be healthier overall and therefore less vulnerable than others to mental decline...
...Still, the screening tool may be extremely useful in prompting high-risk people to start doing whatever they can to protect themselves from future memory loss. "This study has taken a number of earlier findings on risk factors and combined them into a fairly impressive predictor of risk," says Dr. Ralph Nixon, vice chair of the medical and scientific advisory council for the Alzheimer's Association. The new index accurately predicts dementia in 81% of cases. (The midlife tool predicts dementia accurately 78% of the time...
...they can build a rich social network of friends and family, and engage aggressively in ways that challenge their mental as well as physical capabilities. "I truly believe that a lifestyle that incorporates greater socialization and greater use of the mind is what is most important for reducing risk of Alzheimer's," says Nixon, who is also director of the Center of Excellence on Brain Aging at New York University Langone Medical Center. And if this screen can inform more people about their risk of developing dementia - and encourage younger folks to start taking precautions early - perhaps they will...