From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   Brain diseases affecting more people and starting earlier than ever before   
   Date:   
   May 10, 2013   
   Source:   
   Bournemouth University   
      
   Scientists have found that the sharp rise of dementia and other neurological   
   deaths in people under 74 cannot be put down to the fact that we are living   
   longer. The rise is because a higher proportion of old people are being   
   affected by such conditions --   
    and what is really alarming, it is starting earlier and affecting people   
   under 55 years.   
      
      
      
      
   Professor Colin Pritchard's latest research published in journal Public Health   
   has found that the sharp rise of dementia and other neurological deaths in   
   people under 74 cannot be put down to the fact that we are living longer. The   
   rise is because a    
   higher proportion of old people are being affected by such conditions -- and   
   what is really alarming, it is starting earlier and affecting people under 55   
   years.   
      
   Of the 10 biggest Western countries the USA had the worst increase in all   
   neurological deaths, men up 66% and women 92% between 1979-2010. The UK was   
   4th highest, men up 32% and women 48%. In terms of numbers of deaths, in the   
   UK, it was 4,500 and now 6,   
   500, in the USA it was 14,500 now more than 28,500 deaths.   
   Professor Pritchard of Bournemouth University says: "These statistics are   
   about real people and families, and we need to recognise that there is an   
   'epidemic' that clearly is influenced by environmental and societal changes."   
      
   Tessa Gutteridge, Director YoungDementia UK says that our society needs to   
   learn that dementia is increasingly affecting people from an earlier age: "The   
   lives of an increasing number of families struggling with working-age dementia   
   are made so much more    
   challenging by services which fail to keep pace with their needs and a society   
   which believes dementia to be an illness of old age."   
      
   Bournemouth University researchers, Professor Colin Pritchard and Dr Andrew   
   Mayers, along with the University of Southampton's Professor David Baldwin   
   show that there are rises in total neurological deaths, including the   
   dementias, which are starting    
   earlier, impacting upon patients, their families and health and social care   
   services, exemplified by an 85% increase in UK Motor Neurone Disease deaths.   
      
   The research highlights that there is an alarming 'hidden epidemic' of rises   
   in neurological deaths between 1979-2010 of adults (under 74) in Western   
   countries, especially the UK.   
      
   Total neurological deaths in both men and women rose significantly in 16 of   
   the countries covered by the research, which is in sharp contrast to the major   
   reductions in deaths from all other causes.   
      
   Over the period the UK has the third biggest neurological increase, up 32% in   
   men and 48% in women, whilst women's neurological deaths rose faster than   
   men's in most countries.   
      
   Professor Pritchard said, "These rises in neurological deaths, with the   
   earlier onset of the dementias, are devastating for families and pose a   
   considerable public health problem. It is NOT that we have more old people but   
   rather more old people have    
   more brain disease than ever before, including Alzheimer's. For example there   
   are two new British charities, The Young Parkinson's Society and Young   
   Dementia UK, which are a grass-roots response to these rises. The need for   
   such charities would have been    
   inconceivable a little more than 30 years ago."   
      
   When asked what he thought caused the increases he replied, "This has to be   
   speculative but it cannot be genetic because the period is too short. Whilst   
   there will be some influence of more elderly people, it does not account for   
   the earlier onset; the    
   differences between countries nor the fact that more women have been affected,   
   as their lives have changed more than men's over the period, all indicates   
   multiple environmental factors. Considering the changes over the last 30 years   
   -- the explosion in    
   electronic devices, rises in background non-ionising radiation- PC's, micro   
   waves, TV's, mobile phones; road and air transport up four-fold increasing   
   background petro-chemical pollution; chemical additives to food etc. There is   
   no one factor rather the    
   likely interaction between all these environmental triggers, reflecting   
   changes in other conditions. For example, whilst cancer deaths are down   
   substantially, cancer incidence continues to rise; levels of asthma are   
   un-precedented; the fall in male sperm    
   counts -- the rise of auto-immune diseases -- all point to life-style and   
   environmental influences. These `statistics' are about real people and   
   families, and we need to recognise that there is an `epidemic' that clearly is   
   influenced by environmental    
   and societal changes."   
      
   Story Source:   
   The above story is based on materials provided by Bournemouth University.   
   Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.   
      
   Journal Reference:   
   Pritchard C, Mayers, A, Baldwin D. Changing patterns of neurological mortality   
   in the 10 major developed countries 1979-2010. Public Health, 2013 DOI:   
   10.1016/j.puhe.2012.12.018   
      
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   Bournemouth University. "Brain diseases affecting more people and starting   
   earlier than ever before." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 May 2013.    
      
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