If you are married, involved in sport and enjoy an odd glass of wine, you could have a lower risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease, an international conference on dementia care was told yesterday.
Research also showed that age, being a woman, having a low education level and being single were associated with a higher risk of developing dementia, according to French expert Dr Luc Letenneur, epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, France.
Dr Letenneur was speaking at the launch of a report entitled "Dementia Care - Challenges for an Ageing Europe", which was produced by the Dublin-based European Institute of Women's Health (EIWH) in association with a range of European partners.
"In our research several risk factors were studied. Age, female sex, low educational level or being single were associated with a higher risk of developing dementia," he said.
"On the contrary, being married, being involved in leisure activities and drinking moderate amounts of wine were found to be associated with a lower risk of dementia," added Dr Letenneur who outlined details of the research which was initiated to study cerebral and functional ageing among French elderly patients.
"Among the 3,675 initially non-demented subjects, 2,881 participated in the follow-up," he continued. "After five years of follow-up, 278 incident cases of dementia were diagnosed, 198 of them Alzheimer's cases. The prevalence of dementia was estimated at 4.5 per cent."
The EIWH report assessed comparable data on dementias, including Alzheimer's disease, from several European studies. Among a number of areas, the assessment looked at the issue of risk factors, which were outlined as age, inheritance, gender, education, smoking and head trauma.
Although ageing is by no means a causative factor in Alzheimer's disease, the disorder is clearly agerelated, according to the report. About one in 20 over the age of 65 has the disease compared to fewer than one in 1,000 in the below-65 population. Despite a small percentage of apparently familial cases, hereditary factors seem to play a minor role in dementia, the report found. However, there is some evidence that certain genes may predispose a person to Alzheimer's disease.
"Since there are as yet no firm genetic predictors of who will or will not actually have the disease, our report stresses that the field of genomic research is one that holds great hope for unravelling the mysteries of the disease," Ms Peggy Maguire, director general of the EIWH, told the conference.
The study also demonstrated that gender appears to be a factor, with a greater risk for men up to 75, which rises for women in older age groups. It also stated that education levels may play a role. The study showed that the relative risk for people with under seven years of education is twice that for people with more than 11 years. Smoking, once thought to be a sign of reduced risk, is actually associated with higher risk, particularly for men. Smokers appear to have a relative risk 1.74 times greater than those who have never smoked.
"Despite their prevalence, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are still not well known or understood," Ms Maguire said.
"While most primary care physicians are able to diagnose the disease in the moderate state, it is still very difficult to detect mild/early dementia, with the result that treatment and support may be delayed."
In addition, she said, families may be reluctant to ask for help, professionals may offer the wrong kind of help and services may be difficult to access. "As a result, there is a growing need for such professionals as geriatric specialists, dementia nurses and continuing care co-ordinators."