Nearly half of Americans in their 50s and early 60s think they’re likely to develop dementia, according to
National Poll on Healthy Aging data released today.
The online survey showed that 48.5% of people ages 50 to 64 believed they were somewhat or very likely to develop dementia in their lifetime, reported Donavan Maust, MD, MS, of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation in Ann Arbor, and colleagues in
JAMA Neurology.
Only 5.2% said they had discussed dementia prevention with their doctor. About a third used fish oil or omega-3 or took other vitamins or supplements to prevent memory loss.
“A lot of people report doing things to maintain their memory that are not supported by any good science, while they are not talking to clinicians about things they could actually do,” Maust told MedPage Today.
These survey findings are important for two reasons, Maust noted. “First, given the lack of dementia treatments, interest has moved more to prevention earlier and earlier in the disease process,” he said. “But the patients who engage in prevention would probably be motivated by their perceived risk of dementia, so it is important to understand more about how people understand their risk.”
“Second, there is growing evidence that some prevention strategies already exist,” he added. “We were interested in what people report they are doing and how that compares to what evidence suggests is effective.”
In this survey, researchers interviewed 1,019 people from a
probability-based online panel of the U.S. population. Respondents provided demographic and health information and reported whether they thought they were very, somewhat, or not likely to develop dementia in their lifetime. They also answered yes-or-no questions about whether they had ever discussed ways to prevent dementia with their doctor and about four specific strategies to “maintain or improve” their memory — fish oil or omega 3, ginkgo, other vitamins and supplements, and crossword puzzles.
Overall, 44.3% (95% CI 41.1%-47.5%) thought they were somewhat likely to develop dementia, and 4.2% (95% CI 3.1-5.8%) thought they were very likely.
Non-Hispanic black Americans were significantly less likely to think they may develop dementia than white people (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.81;
P=0.01), even though they have a
higher prevalence of dementia than other racial or ethnic groups. People who rated their physical health as fair or poor also did not think they might have a higher likelihood of dementia than people with excellent or very good health (OR 1.46, 95% CI 0.93-2.28;
P=0.10).
“There may be a mismatch between how people perceive their risk of dementia,” Maust said. “In other words, the people at highest risk — those with poor physical health and non-Hispanic African-Americans — did not perceive their risk as high compared to other respondents.”
Overall, 31.6% of respondents said they took fish oil or omega 3 to prevent memory loss; 39.2% used other vitamins or supplements. Less than 10% used ginkgo and more than 50% did crossword puzzles to maintain or boost memory.
How do these perceptions of dementia risk stack up against reality? “Given how the question is worded, it is hard to translate ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ likely into what science tells us about actual risk,” Maust noted.
Disclaimer
This research was supported by AARP, Michigan Medicine, and grants from the National Institute on Aging.
Researchers reported relationships with the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Department of Veterans Affairs, AARP, See Change Health, Health Mine, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Diabetes Association, AbleTo, Inc., Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, the Veterans Health Administration, and VA Health Services Research and Development Service.
Primary Source
JAMA Neurology
