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Dementia
Loneliness is a major risk factor that increases the risk of dementia by over 30 per cent, regardless of age or gender, a review of 21 long-term studies involving over six lakh participants worldwide has found. Loneliness, which involves one feeling dissatisfied with their social relationships, was also linked with symptoms preceding the stage of being diagnosed with dementia, such as cognitive impairment or decline. Both conditions affect decision-making, memory and thought process. However, dementia's symptoms are severe enough to interfere with one's daily functioning. The psychological state of feeling disconnected from society is now widely regarded as a risk factor for ill-health, even though studies have shown that loneliness cannot directly cause the disease. "Dementia is spectrum, with neuropathological changes that start decades before clinical onset. It is important to continue studying the link of loneliness with different cognitive outcomes or symptoms across this ...
The feeling that one's life lacks purpose and that there are fewer opportunities for personal growth could be a very early sign of dementia, according to a study. Researchers found that among older adults, these aspects of psychological wellbeing noticeably declined three to six years before a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, in which one's memory and thinking is affected, yet not to the extent that it interferes with their daily functioning. Mild cognitive impairment is often seen to precede dementia, in which the symptoms become severe enough to interfere with daily activities. The researchers, including those at China Agricultural University's Department of Nutrition and Health, said that while there is mounting evidence linking psychological well-being to brain ageing and related disorders, such as dementia, much of it focuses on the aspect of one's sense of purpose and not others, including personal growth. For the study, published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurge
Hearing aids may protect against cognitive decline in older adults at greater risk of dementia, according to a study published on Tuesday in The Lancet journal. The findings are based on the first randomised controlled trial (RCT) of its kind involving nearly 1,000 older adults from multiple locations across the US. "These results provide compelling evidence that treating hearing loss is a powerful tool to protect cognitive function in later life, and possibly, over the long term, delay a dementia diagnosis," said Professor Frank Lin of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, US. "But any cognitive benefits of treating age-related hearing loss are likely to vary depending on an individuals' risk of cognitive decline," said Lin. Age-related hearing loss is extremely common, affecting two-thirds of adults aged over 60 globally, the researchers said. However, less than 1 in 10 individuals with hearing loss in low- and middle-income countries
Use of sleep medication and inability to fall asleep quickly are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia over a 10 year period, according to a study. The research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found a significant link between three measures of sleep disturbance and the risk for developing dementia, a neurodegenerative disease. The researchers associate sleep-initiation insomnia (trouble falling asleep within 30 minutes) and sleep medication use with higher risk for developing dementia. They also found that people who reported having sleep-maintenance insomnia (trouble falling back to sleep after waking) were less likely to develop dementia over the course of the study. "We expected sleep-initiation insomnia and sleep medication usage to increase dementia risk, but we were surprised to find sleep-maintenance insomnia decreased dementia risk," explained lead investigator Roger Wong, an Assistant Professor at SUNY Upstate Medical Universit
More than 10 million older adults aged 60 or over in India may have dementia, comparable to the prevalence rates for countries such as the US and the UK, according to a first-of-its-kind study. The research, published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, used an artificial intelligence (AI) technique known as semi-supervised machine learning to analyse data from 31,477 older adults. The international team of researchers found that the prevalence rate of dementia in adults aged 60 or over in India could be 8.44 per cent -- equating to 10.08 million older adults in the country. This compares to prevalence rates recorded in similar age groups of 8.8 per cent in the US, 9 per cent in the UK and between 8.5 and 9 per cent in Germany and France, they said. The prevalence of dementia was greater for those who were older, were females, received no education, and lived in rural areas, the researchers found. "Our research was based on the first and only nationally representative aging study in