NBC Nightly News (11/21, story 9, 0:25, Holt) reported, “A study from the University of Michigan found the rate of dementia in seniors has dropped by 24 percent since 2000.”
The New York Times (11/22, A13, Kolata, Subscription Publication) reports the study, published online Nov. 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine, reveals that “the dementia rate in Americans 65 and older fell…over 12 years, to 8.8 percent in 2012 from 11.6 percent in 2000.”
The AP (11/21, Tanner) reports, “Older adults with the most schooling had the lowest dementia rates, and the average education level increased during the study years,” researchers found after analyzing “nationally representative government surveys of about 10,500 older adults” in 2000 and in 2012.
According to Kaiser Health News (11/21, Szabo), the authors of accompanying editorial observed that it may be “possible that people with more education can better compensate for memory problems as they age, finding ways to work around their impairments.”
Psychiatric News (11/21) points out the study “authors also noted that while rates of cardiovascular risk factors have gone up since 2000, treatments for cardiovascular disease have improved, which may contribute to the reduced dementia incidence.”
Related Links:
— “U.S. Dementia Rates Are Dropping Even as Population Ages,”Gina Kolata, The New York Times, November 22, 2016.