News Section | Neurobiology
Thinking you’re in ‘poor’ health dramatically ups your dementia risk
People who think that they are in poor or fair health are more likely to develop dementia later in life, according to a new study.
“Having people rate their own health may be a simple tool for doctors to determine a person’s risk of dementia, especially for people with no symptoms or memory problems,” said study author Christophe Tzourio, MD, PhD, at the University of Bordeaux 2 in France.
At the start of the study, 8,169 people age 65 years or older were asked to rate their health and were followed for nearly seven years. During the study, 618 people developed dementia.
The researcher found that the risk of dementia was 70 percent higher in people who rated their health as poor and 34 percent higher in people who rated their health as fair compared to those who rated their health as good.
In addition, the study found that the association between people’s health ratings and developing dementia was even stronger for those who did not have any memory problems or other issues with thinking skills.
Among those with no cognitive problems, those who rated their health as poor were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia as those who rated their health as good, the report said.
“We know that having a large social network and social activities are associated with a decreased risk of dementia,” said Tzourio.
“Therefore, it’s possible that rating one’s health as poor might be associated with behaviours that limit social interaction and in turn accelerate the dementia process,” he added.
The study has been published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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