Report Identifies Seven Ways to Help Curtail Dementia
With dementia on the rise, a new report calls for greater awareness of modifiable lifestyle factors that increase risk of the condition, including diabetes, physical inactivity and mid-life obesity and high blood pressure.
The report, led by UNSW scientist Professor
Dementia is the leading cause of disability among Australians over 65 and the second leading cause of death in
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The report also found that the knowledge-base around the cause of dementia in the senior community varied greatly, raising the need for in-depth dementia awareness workshops and community involvement.
"While some detrimental attributing factors to dementia such as smoking and alcohol consumption were known, other factors connected to cognitive health were unknown to over 95% of the sample population,"
"This highlights the need for increased local community engagement and advocacy."
Anstey has estimated that close to 50% of dementia cases can be attributed to seven key modifiable lifestyle factors; midlife hypertension, diabetes, low educational attainment, smoking, physical inactivity, midlife obesity, and depression.
The impact of dementia goes far beyond individual health. The report noted there were direct, indirect and intangible costs of dementia for the wider society and significant indirect costs to
For someone with moderate dementia, the care hours are 17 per week on average, while severe cases involve hours similar to a full-time job. In 2016, the cost of foregone work hours was estimated to be
The report also brought attention to an under-researched area of cognitive ageing - financial frailty. CEPAR Director, Scientia Professor
"Our retirement income system is very complex and requires a lot of active decisions. We are only beginning to think about how population ageing will affect the decision-making ability of older cohorts and what insights psychology and behavioural finance can bring," said
More than 400,000 Australians are currently living with dementia. These figures have been revised upward from past projections. More accurate projections of dementia rates out to 2030 are critical to enable government policy makers and community services to better plan for the impact of cognitive decline in the future.
Commenting on the outcomes of the report,
"We need to develop better diagnostic tests and assessments, increase community education to ensure risk factors attributed to dementia are better managed, and support carers to reduce carer distress in the broader community,"
The full report Cognitive ageing and decline: Insights from recent research is available here: (http://neura.edu.au/neura-cepar/)
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