Online calculator Predicts Dementia Risk

Online calculator that empowers individuals over the age of 55 years to better understand their brain health and predict the risk of dementia in the next five years has been devised by scientists at The Ottawa Hospital, the University of Ottawa, the Bruyère Research Institute, and ICES, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of neurodegenerative disease, characterized by gradual loss of memory and thought process that interferes with daily life. In Canada, there is an annual rise of 76,000 new cases of dementia, and this count increase as the population ages.

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‘Online calculator that empowers individuals over the age of 55 years to better understand the health of their brain and how they can reduce their risk of being diagnosed with dementia in the next five years has been devised by scientists. This may help in the early prevention of any equitable strategies.’

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Dementia cannot be cured but can be prevented in about a third of cases through lifestyle factors like physical activity, healthy eating, reducing alcohol and tobacco use, and managing conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

The study team formulized the dementia calculator based on the survey data from over 75,000 Ontarians.

"What sets this dementia risk calculator apart is that you don't need to visit a doctor for any tests. People already have all the information they need to complete the calculator in the comfort of their home," says Dr. Stacey Fisher, the lead author of the study who performed the research largely in Ottawa while she was a Ph.D. student and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and Public Health Ontario.

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The Online Calculator

The factors included in the Dementia Population Risk Tool (DemPoRT) are:

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Age
Smoking status and lifetime exposure
Alcohol consumption
Physical activity
Stress
Diet
Sense of belonging
Ethnicity
Immigration status
Socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood
Education
Activities where assistance is needed
Marital status
Number of languages spoken
Health conditions

The calculator is available at projectbiglife.ca. and can be used by individuals to assess their dementia risk and help them modify their lifestyle. The researchers also have a goal for policymakers to use this algorithm to do the same thing for the general population.

Through this research, the team has developed the first predictive tool designed to predict dementia at a population level. It can predict the number of new cases in the community, identify higher-risk populations, inform dementia prevention strategies, and will be used to support Canada's national dementia strategy.

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Ageing is referred to the accumulation of changes that brings a person closer to death.

"This tool will give people who fill it out clues to what they can do to reduce their personal risk of dement. The COVID-19 pandemic has also made it clear that sociodemographic variables like ethnicity and neighbourhood play a major role in our health. It was important to include those variables in the tool so policy makers can understand how different populations are impacted by dementia, and help ensure that any prevention strategies are equitable," says Dr. Peter Tanuseputro, senior author of the study, and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital, investigator at the Bruyère Research Institute, an adjunct scientist at ICES and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa.

Source-Medindia