By John Salak –
Dementia’s risk rates are on the rise, increasingly seen as a lurking danger for millions of older Americans. Recent estimates report that there are almost 7 million people 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s and dementia in the country—a number that was expected to virtually double by 2060.
Now, new research is painting an even more disturbing picture. It shows the risk of Americans 55 and older developing dementia is 42 percent, more than double the risk reported previously.
This jump in risk translated into hundreds of thousands of new cases—an estimated half-million cases this year alone. The number rises to one million new cases a year by 2060, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health to NYU Langone Health that included authors from several major institutions.
The increasing number of Americans suffering from cognitive decline is directly tied to the aging of the U.S. population. A high risk of dementia is also linked to genetic factors, as well as high rates of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, unhealthy diets, lack of exercise and poor mental health.
The underestimates by previous reports were attributed to unreliable documentation of the illness in health records and on death certificates and minimal surveillance of early-stage cases of dementia. Underreporting of cases among racial minority groups, who are disproportionately vulnerable, also led to underestimates.
NYU Langone’s research relies on information gathered from a neurocognitive study, which has closely tracked the vascular health and cognitive function of nearly 16,000 participants since 1987. The study is also reportedly the longest-followed cohort of African Americans for cognition and heart health.
The analysis discovered the overall lifetime risk for dementia among middle-aged Americans was slightly more than 42 percent. The average risk for men was 35 percent, while the risk for women was substantially higher at 48 percent. Women face an increased risk largely because of their lower death rates.
“Our study results forecast a dramatic rise in the burden from dementia in the United States over the coming decades, with one in two Americans expected to experience cognitive difficulties after age 55,” reported Dr. Josef Coresh, the study’s senior investigator and the founding director of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU Langone.
The recent study also found that the lifetime risk of dementia increases to over 50 percent for those who reach age 75.
The research team did note that previous findings from this study and others indicate that policies designed to prevent heart disease, such as blood pressure control and diabetes prevention, should also slow cognitive decline and prevent dementia. Yet, the challenge and risk prognosis are still daunting.
“The pending population boom in dementia cases poses significant challenges for health policymakers, in particular, who must refocus their efforts on strategies to minimize the severity of dementia cases, as well as plans to provide more health care services for those with dementia,” said Coresh.
