HALF of women and third of men ‘will suffer dementia, stroke or Parkinson’s in their lifetime’

HALF of women and a third of men will suffer dementia, Parkinson’s disease or a stroke in their lifetime, a study warns.

But experts say people could slash their own risk by up to half by leading a healthy lifestyle, with a good diet and exercise.

An aging population, rising obesity levels and sedentary jobs mean more than a million Brits will be living with dementia by 2025.

Many more will have Parkinson’s – characterised by shaking and slow movement – or living with the after effects of strokes.

Researchers from Erasmus MC University, in the Netherlands, monitored the health of 12,000 people aged 45 or over for 26 years.

Over this period, 5291 people died, of which 1,489 people had dementia, 1,285 a stroke and 263 Parkinson’s disease.

It suggests the overall lifetime risk of a 45 year old developing any of these three conditions is 48 per cent for women and 36 per cent for men.

The gender difference was largely driven by women being at heightened risk of developing dementia at a younger age than men.

If the onset of disease could be delayed by one to three years, the remaining lifetime risks would be slashed by 20 per cent in 45-year-olds.

And they would plummet by more than 50 per cent in people aged 85-plus.

The delay could be achieved by adopting a healthier lifestyle or by drugs, if successful new treatments are discovered.

Affected patients were more likely to have had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or an irregular heart beat at the start of the study.

Researcher Dr Arfan Ikram said: “These findings strengthen the call for prioritising the focus on preventive interventions at population level.

“This could substantially reduce the burden of common neurological diseases in the ageing population.”

Dr Carol Routledge, from Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “For most of us, our individual risk of illnesses like dementia is not set in stone and there are things we can all do to help maintain a healthy brain.

“The best current evidence suggests that eating a balanced diet, controlling our weight, staying physically active, not smoking, only drinking within the recommended limits and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check are all associated with better brain health into old age.”
The findings are published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.