dementia prevalence

Career choice may determine where frontotemporal dementia begins

October, 2010
  • An international review of patients with frontotemporal dementia has revealed that the area of the brain first affected tends to be the hemisphere least used in the individual’s occupation.

A review of brain imaging and occupation data from 588 patients diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia has found that among the dementias affecting those 65 years and younger, FTD is as common as Alzheimer's disease. The study also found that the side of the brain first attacked (unlike Alzheimer’s, FTD typically begins with tissue loss in one hemisphere) is influenced by the person’s occupation.

Using occupation scores that reflect the type of skills emphasized, they found that patients with professions rated highly for verbal skills, such as school principals, had greater tissue loss on the right side of the brain, whereas those rated low for verbal skills, such as flight engineers, had greater tissue loss on the left side of the brain. This effect was expressed most clearly in the temporal lobes of the brain. In other words, the side of the brain least used in the patient's professional life was apparently the first attacked.

These findings are in keeping with the theory of cognitive reserve, but may be due to some asymmetry in the brain that both inclines them to a particular occupational path and renders the relatively deficient hemisphere more vulnerable in later life.

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Dementia rate in extreme elderly population

February, 2010

Data from The 90+ Study has revealed a sharply increasing incidence rate for dementia, from nearly 13% per year for 90-94, to over 40% in the 100+ age group.

Data from 330 participants in The 90+ Study, of whom 70% were women, has revealed an overall annual incidence rate of 18.2% for dementia, rising from 12.7% per year in the 90-94 age group, to 21.2% in the 95-99 age group and 40.7% per year in the 100+ age group. 60% of the cases were attributed to Alzheimer's disease, 22% vascular dementia, 9% mixed Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia and 9% other/unknown. Unlike previous findings, rates were very similar for men and women.

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