Activist for Alzheimer's Research Part Three - Dementia Research Globally

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Hello everyone and, welcome back to Traveling Activist with your favorite host Zachery Ramos. Welcome back everyone to Part Three of my Five Part series on the theory does education share a relationship with dementia? Today I have for you all 4 different countries take on Dementia and, the population rate affected by the disease in these countries. Hope you all enjoy the read and, see you all at the end.

America

Some encouraging news in the battle against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia: The rate at which older Americans are getting these conditions is declining. That's according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers say one reason for the improved outlook is an increase in education.

The study used data gathered in two snapshots, one in 2000 and another in 2012, that each looked at more than 10,000 Americans who were at least 65 years old. In the first snapshot, 11.6 percent of them had some form of Dementia. In the second snapshot, it was 8.8 percent.

Put in more human terms, "that's well over a million people who don't have dementia, who would have had it if the rates had stayed the same as 2000 rates," says John Haaga, who directs the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging, which funded the study.

While the prevalence of Dementia cases dropped, the average amount of education in the study population increased. In 2000, the average amount of education was 11.8 years, just shy of the 12 years it usually takes to graduate from high school. In 2012, the average amount of education was 12.7 years — in other words, high school plus a little bit of college.

Researchers don't know why education should be a protector against dementia, says Dr. Kenneth Langa, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan and the lead author of the study. But they have some theories.

"One is that education might actually change the brain itself," Langa says. "We think that it actually creates more, and more complicated, connections between the nerve cells so that you're able to keep thinking normally later into life."

Education can not only change the brain, it can change your whole life, says Haaga. "It affects what kind of work you do, of course. It also affects who your friends are, who you're married to, whether you're married. All aspects of life are affected by educational attainment," he says.

But the study doesn't say that education alone is the "X factor" in preventing Dementia. There are medical factors as well.

Cardiovascular conditions believed to increase the risk of Dementia — things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes — are becoming more common, says Haaga. But they're also being treated more aggressively.

"So it could well be that we're getting better at managing the bad effects of these risk factors," he says. "But they are still risk factors."

This study fits a recent trend. In the past decade or so, other researchers have found similar declines in Dementia risk in wealthier nations. But the populations they examined haven't been very diverse. This study is different. It draws on the ongoing Health and Retirement Study that follows about 20,000 older Americans of all backgrounds nationwide.

Langa says the ethnic, geographic and economic diversity of the subjects makes the trend shown in all these studies more convincing. "The fact that our study also shows a decline, provides additional evidence that this phenomenon seems to be going on across the United States and not in one particular geographic region." Resource-http://kuow.org/

But while the risk of Dementia is declining, the number of cases is still expected to rise. That's because the population of older adults in this country is increasing. The number of people 65 and older is expected to nearly double by 2050.

Germany

Test on Dementia done in Germany estimates the number of people with Dementia in Germany in 2012 as being 1,572,104. This represents 1.92 % of the total population of 81,990,837. The number of people with dementia as a percentage of the population is somewhat higher than the EU average of 1.55%. Now in 2016, that number has drastically doubled in the past 4 years reaching above  3,468,325.  The following table shows the estimated number of people with Dementia between 30 and 59 and for every 5-year age group thereafter. Resource-http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/

Age group	Men with dementia	Women with dementia	Total
30 - 59	28,656	15,745	44,401
60 - 64	4,740	22,149	26,889
65 - 69	37,007	30,784	67,792
70 - 74	70,514	96,980	167,494
75 - 79	113,093	156,392	269,485
80 - 84	128,627	228,221	356,848
85 - 89	93,540	285,604	379,143
90 - 94	34,516	176,903	211,419
95+	6,443	42,190	48,633
Total	517,136	1,054,968	1,572,104

People living with Dementia Globally

Spain

Alzheimer Europe estimates the number of people with Dementia in Spain in 2012 as being 818,347. This represents 1.75% of the total population of 46,771,596. The number of people with dementia as a percentage of the population is somewhat higher than the EU average of 1.55%. This rate has also drastically risen from 2012 to now in 2016 being 1,234,143. The following table shows the estimated number of people with Dementia between 30 and 59 and for every 5-year age group thereafter. Resource-http://www.alzheimer-spain.org/

Age group	Men with dementia	Women with dementia	Total
30 - 59	17,375	9,481	26,856
60 - 64	2,402	11,656	14,057
65 - 69	18,472	16,098	34,570
70 - 74	26,083	37,211	63,294
75 - 79	50,021	72,307	122,328
80 - 84	76,543	131,888	208,431
85 - 89	56,821	140,923	197,744
90 - 94	26,993	92,135	119,128
95+	5,440	26,498	31,938
Total	280,149	538,197	818,347

Africa

In Africa, they are running a test on HIV and, a connection to Dementia. HIV-associated dementia (HAD) is the most severe form of the HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND), one of the most common sequelae of untreated HIV infection. Considered one of the most common causes of dementia among adults 40 and younger, HAD poses one of the greatest risks for mortality among people living with HIV (PLWH). The neuropsychological (NP) impairment associated with HAD affects the domains of motor functioning, attention/concentration, processing speed, executive functioning, and memory, and is thought to reflect subcortical-type dementia with disruption in the frontostriatal and mesial temporal pathways. This pattern of NP-impairment has been associated with poor functional outcomes, such as suboptimal ART adherence, difficulties returning to work, driving problems, disruptions in interpersonal relationships, impaired activities of daily living and vocational abilities. Known risk factors for HAD in high- and low-to-middle income countries include, lower CD4 count, older age, lower levels of education, depression, and alcohol and substance use. Resource-www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Diagnosed Dementia - Brain Scan

United-Kingdom

In March 2012, the Prime Minister set a challenge to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015. Three champion groups were set up to focus on the main areas for action: driving improvements in health and care, creating dementia-friendly communities and improving dementia research.

In 2015, this was followed by a second Challenge. This summarized the progress that had been made since 2012 and also contained a commitment to make England:

• the best country in the world for dementia care and support and for people with dementia, their carers and families to live; and
• the best place in the world to undertake research into dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The Challenge was followed by an Implementation Plan which contained detailed steps that the government and other national bodies would take to improve the quality of life for people with dementia and their carers. These fell into four key themes:

• Risk reduction
• Health and care
• Dementia awareness and social action
• Research

Alzheimer’s Society is working closely with other organizations to achieve these commitments. In doing so they have remained the leading country in delivering improvements for Dementia patients. Resource-http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

Every country is working on their own cure for this disease that is drastically hitting are elderly community.  We are faced with a hardship of watching are family members, friends, loved ones suffer from this disease that's taking their memories of everything they loved away from them. I am thankful, we should all be thankful for the support these countries are contributing to the fight against Dementia and, hopefully someday there will be a cure or a way to prevent it from happening so drastically but until then we must continue to work together to find a way.

I want to personally thank you all for following me on this series. Today you all learned about what other countries are facing and, doing to try to help in the fight against Dementia. Before I go I have a question for you all about what we've been discussing so far this week on Dementia. If you suffered from Dementia what would you hope you'd be able to remember out of your whole lifetime? Would it be your kids? Your wedding day? Your own parents? Share with me your thoughts in the comment section. Zachery Ramos signing out from Traveling Activist, see you all Thursday for part 4 hope you all enjoyed. 

And always remember if you can dream it, you can achieve it as long as you put your heart into it...