Dementia rates are leveling out in the United Kingdom (UK) according to a new study, which also argues that an "explosion" of Alzheimer's disease is baseless. The former mental illness' rates among British adults at least 65 years old dropped by over one-fifth in 2011 compared to projections made a few decades earlier, and resemble the statistical trend throughout Europe.
The study was conducted by the Institute of Public Health at Cambridge University. It included experts from the UK and the cities of Bonn, Madrid, Gothenburg, and Stockholm. Their findings were published in the Lancet Neurology Journal.
Zaragoza, Spain saw a 43 percent decrease in the rates of dementia in men 65 years old and above, from 1987 to 1996. The prevalence of dementia has also fallen in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Medical experts noted that the dementia "explosion" was based on out-of-date research begun in the 1980s. In truth, an epidemic did not exist.
Since the decade of New Coke, Pac-Man, and "Back to the Future," several improvements have changed the big picture. They include living conditions, lifestyles, and health care.
Lead author Prof. Carol Brayne explained that the decrease in dementia rates matched up with better quality of life issues, including improved living conditions and education, according to Metro. There was also a general drop in risk factors during the past few decades, including vascular diseases.
She observed that since the 1980s, the incidence and death rates from cardiovascular diseases in developed countries have dropped. The recent dementia rates show upgrades in the treatment and prevention of key risk factors. They include high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Another study by the University of California in San Francisco found critical risk factors that were linked to a maximum of two-thirds of global Alzheimer's cases. They include the protective effects of drugs to lower blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation; and Vitamins C and E, folate, and coffee.
Dementia is still a major mental illness in the UK, due to the aging population. Britons over 85 years old are the fastest rising age democratic, with around 40 percent of them estimated to have dementia, according to NDTV.
An estimated 5.3 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease. About 96 percent of them are at least 65 years old.
This video gives a basic explanation of dementia: