Uticopa Blog

As Gordon Brown unveils his new package of proposals offering special dementia ‘memory clinics' where the man in the street can go to check out his own susceptibility to the disease, it is interesting to note how even our childhood can have an effect.  So now, as people are asked to ‘count backwards progressively from 100 by 7 each time' - making them recall their mental arithmetic lesson from school - there may be further links hitherto unrealised.

Scientists have now discovered a link between childhood IQ levels and a type of dementia. The discovery could help scientists better understand what causes the form of the disease which affects more than 100,000 people in Britain.

A study by Edinburgh University has found that lower intelligence levels in childhood increase the risk of developing vascular dementia later in life by as much as 40 per cent.

The findings, published in the journal Neurology, also suggest that interventions to lower blood pressure and discourage smoking could also help lower the risk of developing the disease.

The results of the study came as campaigners warned that sufferers and their families are being charged a ‘dementia tax' for care.

The Alzheimer's Society said it was ‘unfair' that patients were being forced to pay for care that was a direct result of their medical condition.

They contrasted the situation with that of cancer or heart attack patients, who they said would not be asked to pay for chemotherapy or surgery.

The charity estimates that families of sufferers pay between £3billion and £4billion every year for care, mainly in care homes.

Extra care given by relatives saves the NHS an estimated extra £6 billion annually.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said that part of the problem was that too few people recognised dementia as an illness.

"All too often there is the idea that this is just what happens as you get older. But this is not what happens with age; this is a medical condition, and the care that these people require is as a direct result of that medical condition."  The key to dementia is the level of forgetfulness.  Forgetting someone's name is normal as one gets older;  forgetting the name of your husband or wife is not.
As part of the Scottish Mental Survey, scientists looked at the records of 173 people who sat a series of mental ability tests in 1932, as part of an experiment involving every child aged 11 in Scotland.

Vascular dementia, which affects around 112,000 people in Britain and is the second most common form of the disease after Alzheimer's, has also been linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

Dr Brian McGurn, who led the research, said: "Our work suggests a possible link between mental ability in early life and the risk of developing vascular dementia.

"The unique data available from the Scottish Mental Survey means the link can be demonstrated independently of factors like socio-economic status and education."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "This research confirms that vascular risk factors are very important in tackling dementia. If we live a healthier lifestyle and reduce our risk of high blood pressure, cholesterol and don't smoke, then this gives us a much better chance of avoiding dementia later in life."

One in three people who lives to more than 65 years of age will end their life with some form of dementia.

Any insight that looks at people's behaviour from childhood onwards is to be encouraged as a way of hopefully combatting this increasing scourge on society.  We know that different parts of our bodies - as the individual components in cars - are likely to wear out quicker than others.  It is the added elements in mental disorders such as Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia that are the burgeoning problems as more of us live longer lives. 

Research such as that carried out by the above Edinburgh study are to be encouraged in the fight to safeguard our mental health, both now and in the future. We all want to live to old age - but in good mental health.