Caregiver Marine Lehmberg wears a protective face mask and gloves as she gently coaxes Marlene Schulz, 85, who has dementia, to dance to a singer's live performance at the Hermann Radtke Haus nursing home during the novel coronavirus crisis on April 29, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Photo Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Health USAAlzheimer’s Disease on the Decline in US and Europe – but Why?
Scientists have reported that in the United States and in Europe, the risk of a person developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease being its most common form, is 13 percent lower than 10 years ago.
“The genetic risk factors for dementia cannot have changed,” says Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging. “That means something in the environment has occurred,” he added, which “has to encourage us.”
This decline might be due to the improved control of cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol. Such a study is also an incentive to promote a healthier diet and the addition of physical activities to a lifestyle since it “suggests that the risk is modifiable,” says Dr. Morris, director of the Center for Aging at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
