Stockholm (dpa) - The risk of developing Alzheimer's or dementia
is reduced if you live with a spouse or a partner, according to a
Swedish study published Thursday.
Researcher Krister Hakansson of the Karolinska Institute and Vaxjo
University conducted the study using data from a Finnish study where
2,000 people were examined at the age of around 50 and were re-
examined 21 years later.
The results suggested that "people living with a spouse or a
partner in midlife ran a 50 per cent lower risk of developing
dementia than people living alone, even when controlled for other
risk factors, such as age," according to a Karolinska Institute press
release.
The Finnish study differed from other studies over its follow-up.
Often dementia researchers only study individuals in late life.
Shared life was seen as helping social and intellectual
stimulation.
The study indicated that people who had lost their partner before
middle age and then continued to live as a widow or widower faced a
six times greater risk of developing Alzheimer's compared to married
couples.
"This suggests two influencing factors - social and intellectual
stimulation and trauma," said Hakansson of the Karolinska Institute
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society.
The results were also presented at the 2008 Alzheimer's
Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD
2008), currently being held in Chicago, US.
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