3 ms·

“For people aged between 65 and 69, around 2 in every 100 people have dementia. A person’s risk then increases as they age, roughly doubling every five years. T

“For people aged between 65 and 69, around 2 in every 100 people have dementia. A person’s risk then increases as they age, roughly doubling every five years. This means that, of those aged over 90, around 33 in every 100 people have dementia.” https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/factsheet_risk_factors_for_dementia.pdf https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/factsh... So, as more people live longer, the odds of getting dementia increases greatly. Maybe we should spend the money to cure the disease?

josephcsible 4y ago
A cure would be great, but it's not something we can just buy by throwing enough money at it. This argument feels like saying to try to find a cure for lung cancer instead of getting rid of asbestos and getting people to stop smoking.
- melling 4y ago
  “Top Modifiable Risk Factor” I think we should dig deeper into the numbers before deciding. I get the feeling we aren’t going to see the same numbers like we do for smoking. The odds for *everyone* increases greatly simply by aging. And it’s costing a fortune. “Costs Associated With Alzheimer’s Disease Reach $277 Billion Annually, Report Finds” https://acl.gov/news-and-events/news/costs-associated-alzheimers-disease-reach-277-billion-annually-report-finds https://acl.gov/news-and-events/news/costs-associated-alzhei...
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    Well the disease of Aging is the number one killer. We should solve that
    - melling 4y ago
      I’ll just leave off by saying that some causes of death have a much higher cost to society. Spending a decade with Alzheimer’s then dying is expensive. Simply dying quietly in your sleep at the age of 99 after living a healthy life, not so much
  - Jach 4y ago
    Clicking through the submission shows: "Approximately 1 in 3 of ADRD cases (36.9%) in the US were associated with 8 modifiable risk factors, the most prominent of which were midlife obesity (17.7%; 95% CI, 17.5-18.0), physical inactivity (11.8%; 95% CI, 11.7-11.9), and low educational attainment (11.7%; 95% CI, 11.5-12.0)." Interpreting those risk factors as saying x% higher risk than not, i.e. a relative risk of 1.177, it's a far cry from smoking relative risk findings > 20. I agree that just solving the disease, or at least making its treatment options cheaper (so that it's not a big deal if some people cost a bit more to treat than others), is a lot better than trying to alter levels of service based on BMI. But throwing more money at ADRD directly is probably a mistake, especially given findings like https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid-data-what-does-it-mean https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid... I'm much more in favor of solving aging. Maybe see what happens if you give SENS $1bn/yr. Don't even need to take more public money, I'm sure Alzheimer's researchers won't miss it. (Though even without SENS being better funded, things are looking up; there are more groups, and things have been able to be spun out into startups. It's especially relieving that the Theranos case hasn't completely destroyed the concept of VC-funded health-related startups as a class, since VC money is a lot better than government money dollar-for-dollar. Before his personal drama with SENS recently, Aubrey estimated 50-50 odds at solving aging by 2035. With more funding, that could probably be improved.)
kingTug 4y ago
Terrifying statistics considering the age of our leaders in Congress.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  Well not to excuse their age, but most of congress goes in with a declined metal state so.... Our system of election is not designed to elect the "best and brightest" and we hardly ever get that option
  - paulryanrogers 4y ago
    Incentives are perverse. We reward seniority in office when we really need people to cycle in and out more often. Though perhaps a bit less frequently.
blamestross 4y ago
You know that whole trope of "the science/medicine just keeps getting better". For Dementia it is just getting worse. We have a better handle on cancer than pryon diseases. Please spend your money on fusion research instead, it has a better outlook and roi. They used to cling to statistical fallacies about "keeping an active mind" but now we know no amount of crossword puzzles will keep proteins folding right. Cognitive health just masks symptoms longer.
- wyre 4y ago
  Woah. My grandmas is 92 and has done the crossword everyday for years. I’m not going to tell her that science shows it isn’t helping her offset dementia.
  - blamestross 4y ago
    Explain survivorship bias sometime!

josephcsible 4y ago

A cure would be great, but it's not something we can just buy by throwing enough money at it. This argument feels like saying to try to find a cure for lung cancer instead of getting rid of asbestos and getting people to stop smoking.

melling 4y ago
“Top Modifiable Risk Factor” I think we should dig deeper into the numbers before deciding. I get the feeling we aren’t going to see the same numbers like we do for smoking. The odds for *everyone* increases greatly simply by aging. And it’s costing a fortune. “Costs Associated With Alzheimer’s Disease Reach $277 Billion Annually, Report Finds” https://acl.gov/news-and-events/news/costs-associated-alzheimers-disease-reach-277-billion-annually-report-finds https://acl.gov/news-and-events/news/costs-associated-alzhei...
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  Well the disease of Aging is the number one killer. We should solve that
  - melling 4y ago
    I’ll just leave off by saying that some causes of death have a much higher cost to society. Spending a decade with Alzheimer’s then dying is expensive. Simply dying quietly in your sleep at the age of 99 after living a healthy life, not so much
- Jach 4y ago
  Clicking through the submission shows: "Approximately 1 in 3 of ADRD cases (36.9%) in the US were associated with 8 modifiable risk factors, the most prominent of which were midlife obesity (17.7%; 95% CI, 17.5-18.0), physical inactivity (11.8%; 95% CI, 11.7-11.9), and low educational attainment (11.7%; 95% CI, 11.5-12.0)." Interpreting those risk factors as saying x% higher risk than not, i.e. a relative risk of 1.177, it's a far cry from smoking relative risk findings > 20. I agree that just solving the disease, or at least making its treatment options cheaper (so that it's not a big deal if some people cost a bit more to treat than others), is a lot better than trying to alter levels of service based on BMI. But throwing more money at ADRD directly is probably a mistake, especially given findings like https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid-data-what-does-it-mean https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/faked-beta-amyloid... I'm much more in favor of solving aging. Maybe see what happens if you give SENS $1bn/yr. Don't even need to take more public money, I'm sure Alzheimer's researchers won't miss it. (Though even without SENS being better funded, things are looking up; there are more groups, and things have been able to be spun out into startups. It's especially relieving that the Theranos case hasn't completely destroyed the concept of VC-funded health-related startups as a class, since VC money is a lot better than government money dollar-for-dollar. Before his personal drama with SENS recently, Aubrey estimated 50-50 odds at solving aging by 2035. With more funding, that could probably be improved.)

kingTug 4y ago

Terrifying statistics considering the age of our leaders in Congress.

phpisthebest 4y ago
Well not to excuse their age, but most of congress goes in with a declined metal state so.... Our system of election is not designed to elect the "best and brightest" and we hardly ever get that option
- paulryanrogers 4y ago
  Incentives are perverse. We reward seniority in office when we really need people to cycle in and out more often. Though perhaps a bit less frequently.

blamestross 4y ago

You know that whole trope of "the science/medicine just keeps getting better". For Dementia it is just getting worse. We have a better handle on cancer than pryon diseases. Please spend your money on fusion research instead, it has a better outlook and roi. They used to cling to statistical fallacies about "keeping an active mind" but now we know no amount of crossword puzzles will keep proteins folding right. Cognitive health just masks symptoms longer.

wyre 4y ago
Woah. My grandmas is 92 and has done the crossword everyday for years. I’m not going to tell her that science shows it isn’t helping her offset dementia.
- blamestross 4y ago
  Explain survivorship bias sometime!