Study Finds ‘regional Differences’ In Dementia Rates Among Veterans

A study published successful June recovered that veterans seemed to person higher incidences of dementia depending connected wherever they live. This study, conducted by researchers astatine nan University of California San Francisco, recovered that dementia rates per each 1,000 person-years were highest successful nan Southeast and lowest successful nan Mid-Atlantic.

According to researchers, successful nan Southeast, location were 14 cases of dementia per each 1,000 person-years and successful nan Mid-Atlantic, location were 11.5 per each 1,000 person-years. Researchers based their comparisons connected nan Mid-Atlantic’s data.

These findings were consistent, moreover erstwhile researchers factored successful age, race, and cardiovascular disease, including successful agrarian areas, wherever aesculapian attraction is not arsenic accessible successful galore cases.

“Among older adults successful nan VHA, dementia incidence varied importantly crossed U.S. regions, independent of cardinal covariates,” researchers said. “These findings item nan request for targeted wellness attraction planning, nationalist wellness interventions, and argumentation development.”

There were 1,268,599 veterans 65 years and older studied by researchers. Dementia diagnoses, according to nan study, were made based connected “International Classification of Diseases” codes, and poisson regression models were utilized to calculcate dementia incidences and look astatine location differences.

Dementia rates 25% higher successful Southeast: study

According to nan study’s findings, dementia rates among nan cohort were 25% higher successful nan Southeast; nan Northwest and Rocky Mountains were 23% higher; and successful nan South, they were 18% higher.

Rates successful nan Southwest were 13% higher, and successful nan Northeast, they were 7% higher. 

The study’s lead author, Christina Dintica, a postdoctoral clever clever successful psychiatry astatine nan University of California San Francisco, said successful a press release that nan adjacent measurement is to analyse nan factors driving these differences. “Quality of education, early life conditions, and biology exposures whitethorn beryllium among those factors.”

Newsweek, which reported connected nan study, interviewed Dr. Daniel Lesley, board-certified neurologist astatine Remo Health, who said that to forestall dementia, group should debar biology pollutants for illustration baccy smoke, poorly functioning state aliases wood stoves and unfiltered h2o successful places that mightiness beryllium contaminated.

“These exposures negatively effect aggregate aspects of health, including cognitive function,” Lesley said.