4 ms·

But wasn't that also the case in antiquity/middle ages? People not experiencing Alzheimer's because they did not live long enough?

robocat 3y ago
In a study of all men of renown, living in the 5th and 4th century in Greece, we identified 83 whose date of birth and death have been recorded with certainty. Their mean +/- SD and median lengths of life were found to be 71.3+/-13.4 and 70 years, respectively. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ Dementia starts to be noticeable in modern society after about 75. I haven't found a source showing the distribution of age at diagnosis. Also the title is highly misleading: Alzheimers is only one form of dementia. From another source: A growing number of studies indicate that the prevalence 223.267.315-322 and incidence270.320-329 of Alzheimer's and other dementias in the United States and other higher income Western countries may have declined in the past 25 years,270,277.320-328.330-333 though results are mixed. 60.261.334-335 One recent systematic review found that incidence of dementia has decreased over the last four decades while incidence of Alzheimer's dementia, specifically, has held steady
tptacek 3y ago
Right, so the premise of the article is an inquiry into whether there is something neuroprotective about the lifestyle or environment of premodern civilization.
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
I'm guessing that Cicero, Galen, et al. would have primarily been looking at upper-crust Romans. Tribal groups are necessarily more equal.
Gare 3y ago
It is estimated that about 12% of Romans that survived first 10 years of life (half of them died before that, but cest la vie if you don't have vaccines and antibiotics) lived to be 70 years or older. Currently, this figure is 43% worldwide from birth. But fertility is also way lower as a response to low infant and child mortality. So 3.5x increase in over-70 population seems a decent guesstimate. In developed countries even more.

robocat 3y ago

In a study of all men of renown, living in the 5th and 4th century in Greece, we identified 83 whose date of birth and death have been recorded with certainty. Their mean +/- SD and median lengths of life were found to be 71.3+/-13.4 and 70 years, respectively. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18359748/ Dementia starts to be noticeable in modern society after about 75. I haven't found a source showing the distribution of age at diagnosis. Also the title is highly misleading: Alzheimers is only one form of dementia. From another source: A growing number of studies indicate that the prevalence 223.267.315-322 and incidence270.320-329 of Alzheimer's and other dementias in the United States and other higher income Western countries may have declined in the past 25 years,270,277.320-328.330-333 though results are mixed. 60.261.334-335 One recent systematic review found that incidence of dementia has decreased over the last four decades while incidence of Alzheimer's dementia, specifically, has held steady

tptacek 3y ago

Right, so the premise of the article is an inquiry into whether there is something neuroprotective about the lifestyle or environment of premodern civilization.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago

I'm guessing that Cicero, Galen, et al. would have primarily been looking at upper-crust Romans. Tribal groups are necessarily more equal.

Gare 3y ago

It is estimated that about 12% of Romans that survived first 10 years of life (half of them died before that, but cest la vie if you don't have vaccines and antibiotics) lived to be 70 years or older. Currently, this figure is 43% worldwide from birth. But fertility is also way lower as a response to low infant and child mortality. So 3.5x increase in over-70 population seems a decent guesstimate. In developed countries even more.