Dementia: it’s difficult to think of a more pressing topic. But what do we really know about dementia and about the ways to prevent it? In this podcast, Dr Tom Russ tell us that people living in the north of the UK and Sweden are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop dementia. Why is this the case? Dr Russ explains that we have some good candidates to explore in more detail.
In one of his latest papers, Dr Tom Russ – Clinical Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry – and his colleagues present the results of a fascinating study in which they compared the number of people with dementia in the north and in the south of Scotland and Sweden. What they found might surprise you: people who live in the north of the UK are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop dementia than those who live in the south.
These results add to those linking differences between people living in rural or urban areas: previous studies have in fact shown that people living in rural areas are more likely to develop dementia than those living in urban areas. On top of this, there are gender differences: women are more likely to develop dementia than men. But why is living in the “North” so influential on whether we develop dementia or not? In this interview Dr Tom Russ defines dementia, explains the results of this research and discusses some possible candidates that might influence its development, such as Vitamin D and Selenium.
Related links:
Geographical Variation in Dementia: Examining the Role of Environmental Factors in Sweden and Scotland (available from 8th of January 2016)