Posts Tagged ‘dementia’

Poverty is raising dementia rates

Monday, September 9th, 2024
Dementia

Dementia and poverty go together. So researchers say in the latest Briefing from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington. They say the risk of developing dementia is 60 per cent higher for people living in New Zealand’s most deprived areas compared to those in the least deprived. Right now, our Read more

Is dementia a fate worse than death?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2015

When Canada effectually legalized euthanasia, I was dismayed. Dementia victims, certain to be targets, can be got to “consent” without any fixed or firm idea what they are doing. With the ageing of the world’s population dementia has become the new leprosy. As Marcus Roberts notes in a recent post on Demography is Destiny, the Read more

Dementia tops fear list – but life can still have meaning

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014

Getting dementia tops the list of fears for older people including baby boomers, says a celebrated world authority on ageing and spirituality, Dr Elizabeth MacKinlay. Yet people with dementia can still find meaning in life, she says. MacKinlay is professor of theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and an Anglican priest. She has been presenting Read more

Pre-diseases: forgetfulness, MCI and pre-dementia

Friday, September 14th, 2012

Over-diagnosis epidemic – David Le Couteur discusses recent changes in the definition of dementia and their ramifications: The pattern of over-diagnosis is the same for many diseases: we screen healthy people and those with minimal symptoms; we use sophisticated technologies that detect early or minor abnormalities that may not progress; and we treat people with Read more

The preposterous epidemic of pre-diseases

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

If you’re on the verge of developing diabetes, you’re “pre-diabetic.” You’ve got “pre-hypertension” if you’re about to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, “pre-anxiety” before getting anxiety, and and “pre-dementia” before dementia. As if actual diseases weren’t frightening enough, we now have what seems like a whole encyclopedia of pre-diseases to fear. What’s with our Read more