The surprising decline in Alzheimer's disease

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The surprising decline in Alzheimer's disease

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While the downward trend in the number of Alzheimer's cases is the same in Europe as in the United States, this is not true for the rest of the world, particularly in Russia, Asia or South America.

The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or another form of neuronal degeneration at any given age has been reduced by 13% in ten years, reports a large study conducted in the United States and several European countries, and over more than twenty five years. This good news is all the more surprising given that we regularly hear that in the coming years there will be an increase in the number of elderly people in France suffering from Alzheimer's disease or another related neurodegenerative disease. And, unfortunately, this prediction is true. The marked decrease in individual risk will not be enough to compensate for the aging of the population in our country. It will just help dampen this tide.

 

“A few isolated studies had already reported a reduction in the incidence of dementia, in certain countries and with very variable impacts, and we decided four years ago to bring together several cohorts to increase the statistical strength of the evidence, with a effect which is now very clear ”, reports Dr. Albert Hofman, principal coordinator of the publication published on August 4 in the journal Neurology and professor of epidemiology at the school of public health of Harvard University in Boston (United States). ). Before being appointed to Harvard, Albert Hofman was responsible for the so-called Rotterdam cohort in the Netherlands, which was the first to announce in 2013 a drop in the number of new cases of Alzheimer's disease. Others, in France and the United States, then found similar trends.

 

Several solid tracks

Two large French cohorts are also participating in this pooling: the 3C study (for "three cities": Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier) and the Paquid study, launched in 1988 on elderly people in Gironde and Dordogne. All the studies pooled in Europe and the United States have followed 50,000 people for at least twenty-seven years. If the downward trend is the same in Europe as in the United States, this is not true for the rest of the world, especially in Russia, Asia or South America, admit the authors of the study. "The major question now, that we are searching a solution , is why this reduction within the number of latest cases in Europe and therefore the United States?" specifies Albert Hofman.

 "Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we've many solid guides: with each other are increasing the extent of education and improving cardiovascular health, notably linked to lower smoking." Two avenues that will not surprise specialists, who know that these two factors play a crucial role in the emergence of the disease.

 
"We know that the level of education is the first risk factor," points out Philippe Amouyel. The number of years of school or higher education greatly reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or related. Cardio-vascular factors are also very important, and the decrease in hypertension, the decrease in the level of lipids in the blood, the decrease in sedentary lifestyle and the improvement of the quality of the diet, participate in the reduction of risks. ” Poor blood supply to the brain due to cardiovascular problems is suspected to precipitate the onset of dementia. The level of education, as well as intellectual stimulation and reading, does not prevent the onset of the disease, but increases the resilience of the brain, the cognitive reserve, which makes it possible to compensate for the first lesions, and delays the onset symptoms.

"The important concept is perhaps that there's nothing inevitable regarding Alzheimer's disease , which even without a miracle drug, it's more crucial than ever to enforce prevention" continues Albert Hofman. "By improving cardiovascular health and with better education, we can delay the onset of the disease for an individual," says Maï Panchal, scientific director of the Vaincre Alzheimer Foundation. And if we manage to delay the onset of cognitive disorders by a few years, we will have real public health benefits. ”

 “The other surprising part of our study is that the risk of developing age-related dementia is the same for men as it is for women,” says Hofman. If a larger number of women suffer from neurodegeneration today, this is mainly due to the fact that they live longer on average than men.

 "For Alzheimer's disease, it must be remembered that the risks increase very sharply with age," recalls Professor Philippe Amouyel, professor of public health at the University Hospital of Lille and director of the Alzheimer Foundation. In this study, we thus see that there are, for both men and women, 4 patients per 1,000 people for the 65 to 69 age group, and that, for 85 to 89 year olds, the figure is 65 patients per 1,000 people. "

 

 

 

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