Dementia

Nervous system disorders account for 5% of all male deaths in the UK. Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are responsible for around half of this figure, at just over 5,000 deaths per year. Parkinson's disease is the next largest, causing a further 2,300 deaths.

Early signs of dementia

Dementia is a catch-all term for a range of symptoms resulting from decline in the functioning of the brain. It mainly affects mental abilities such as thinking, use of language, memory, understanding and judgement.

Symptoms to look out for include:

• Inability to recall recent events
• Failure to recognize familiar faces and names
• Losing things or putting them in strange places
• General confusion about everyday matters such as the time or day of the week
• Language problems such as failing to find the right word or phrase
• Mood or behaviour problems such as apathy or irritability
• Lack of care with personal hygiene
• Lack of awareness of personal danger and other lapses in judgement

Risk factors

Age is the biggest risk factor for dementia. Around one in 14 people over the age of 65 and one in six people over 80 has some type of dementia.

You are also more at risk if:

• You are a woman. Women have a slightly higher risk than men
• You smoke
• You are a heavy drinker - i.e. someone who regularly drinks over the daily recommended limits
• You have an unhealthy diet
• You are obese and do little exercise
• You don't keep mentally active

Prevention

There is no way to prevent dementia, but generally speaking maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help protect against both mental and physical decline.

In fact, a study carried out last year found that people over the age of 70 who exercised, didn't smoke and kept socially and mentally active were less likely to develop the disease. Although the results come from just one study, doing these activities won't hurt and may do some good.

This article was published on Fri 12 February 2010