“Writing in the journal Jama Network Open, researchers in Australia report how they analysed data from 62,437 people aged 70 and over, collected from three long-running surveys covering the US, England and parts of Europe.

The team used an algorithm that took into account participants’ responses to a host of different metrics, from the difficulties they had with everyday activities to their scores on cognitive tests, to determine whether they were likely to have dementia.

They then split the participants into eight different cohorts, representing different generations. Participants were also split into six age groups.

As expected, the researchers found the prevalence of dementia increased by age among all birth cohorts, and in each of the three regions: UK, US and Europe. However, at a given age, people in more recent generations were less likely to have dementia compared with those in earlier generations.

‘For example, in the US, among people aged 81 to 85, 25.1% of those born between 1890–1913 had dementia, compared to 15.5% of those born between 1939–1943,’ said Lenzen, adding similar trends were seen in Europe and England, although less pronounced in the latter.”

From The Guardian.