Dementia levels 'stabilising' across UK and Europe, study finds

New research has shown that fears of an Alzheimer's 'explosion' are unfounded and that dementia rates may be stabilising in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.

In the data, published in the Lancet medical journal, scientists found that the proportion of British people aged 65 and above with dementia fell by more than a fifth in 2011 compared with what it was predicted to be a decade earlier.

Studies in other European countries show a similar trend. In Zaragoza, Spain, there was a 43% fall in the prevalence of dementia in men aged 65 and older between 1987 and 1996, and dementia incidence had also declined in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Experts pointed out that much of the evidence pointing to a dementia "epidemic" was based on out-dated research started in the 1980s.

Since then, improvements in living conditions, health care and lifestyle had altered the picture.

Lead researcher Professor Carol Brayne, from the Institute of Public Health at Cambridge University, said:

Elsewhere, nine potentially modifiable risk factors may contribute to up to two thirds of Alzheimer's disease cases worldwide, suggests an analysis of the available evidence, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The analysis indicates the complexity of Alzheimer's disease development and just how varied the risk factors for it are.

But the researchers suggest that preventive strategies, targeting diet, drugs, body chemistry, mental health, pre-existing disease, and lifestyle may help to stave off dementia.

This could be particularly important, given that, as yet, there is no cure, the scientists say.