Health

Association between chronic conditions in middle age and dementia risk


Evidence suggests that multiple diseases are common, especially in older age groups and in people living with dementia. But the studies examined whether multiple illnesses at an earlier age affect subsequent dementia risk.

To fill this knowledge gap, the researchers set out to examine the long-term association between multiple illnesses at age 55, 60, 65, and 70 years and later dementia.

Their findings are based on data collected from more than 10,000 British men and women participating in the Whitehall II Study, which examines the link between social, behavioral and biological factors on long-term health. long. When the study participants were in 1985-1988, they were between the ages of 35 and 55 and did not have dementia.

For this study, multimorbidity was defined as the presence of at least two chronic diseases in a list of 13 predefined chronic diseases, excluding dementia. Subsequent dementia cases were determined by hospital records and deaths through March 31, 2019.

Of the 10,095 participants, 6.6% developed multimorbidity at age 55 and 32% at age 70. During a median follow-up of 32 years, 639 cases of dementia were identified.

After considering a range of factors including age, sex, ethnicity, education, diet and lifestyle behaviours, multimorbidity at age 55 was associated with a higher risk of dementia. 2.4 times (1.56 per 1,000 person years) compared with those without 13 chronic conditions.

This association wanes with age at the onset of multiple diseases.

For example, at age 65, onset of multiple disease before age 55 was associated with a 2.5 times higher risk of dementia (3.86 per 1,000 person years) compared with a 1.5 times higher risk (1.85 per 1,000 people) in those with onset of incidence between 60 and 65 years of age.

In other words, for every 5-year-old child from the onset of multimorbidity up to age 70, the risk of dementia was 18% higher.

As researchers examined more severe multimorbidity (defined as three or more chronic illnesses), the importance of younger age at onset of multimorbidity was further emphasized.

This was an observational study, so a cause could not be determined, and the researchers point to some limitations, such as being able to misclassify some dementia cases and the fact that people study participants are likely to be healthier than the general population.

However, this was a large study with more than 30 years of follow-up, and the results were similar after further analysis using mortality as the outcome measure, which the researchers say increases confidence. into their findings on dementia.

“Given the lack of effective treatments for dementia and its individual and social impacts, it is urgent to find targets for dementia prevention,” they write. . “These findings highlight the role of prevention and management of chronic diseases during adulthood to minimize adverse outcomes in old age.”

Source: Newswise



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