Hard to detect dementia in elderly people in Britain
By IANSMonday, October 25, 2010
LONDON - Elderly people in Britain who suffer from dementia are hard to detect today as they fare better in intelligence tests than their predecessors, a study has found.
Dementia, which involves forgetfulness, mostly affects people who are in their 70s.
The H70 study by Sweden’s University of Gothenburg provides data on symptoms that experts used to predict the development of dementia. It also probed if the symptoms have changed in recent generations.
The study involved the 70-year-olds who have been extensively examined over the years, including tests that measure memory, speed, language, logic and spatial awareness, reports the journal Neurology.
“Using the test results, we’ve tried to identify people who are at risk of developing dementia,” says Simona Sacuiu, of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden.
“While this worked well for the group of 70-year-olds born in 1901-02, the same tests didn’t offer any clues about who will develop dementia in the later generation of 70-year-olds born in 1930.”
The 70-year-olds, who were born in 1930 and examined in 2000, performed better in the intelligence tests than their predecessors born in 1901-02 and examined in 1971.
There were no differences in test results between 70-year-olds who developed dementia and those who did not over the next five years in the group born in 1930 and examined in 2000, while many of the tests identified early signs of dementia in the group born in 1901-02.
