With a personal connection. This study, just released in The Lancet, has created headlines because it contradicts previous research and conventional wisdom that the obese are at the highest risk for dementia. Of nearly 2 million aged 40+ (median age 55), developed from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) over 15 years and screened for body mass index (BMI), the highest risk–34 percent– was found among those with a BMI lower than 20, which would include low-normal and underweight, versus those in a normal weight range with BMI 20-25 percent. The very obese, with BMI over 40, had a 29 percent reduced risk versus the normal range. This leads of course to why this is, for others to study. So it looks like you should eat right and exercise, but you don’t have to be a social X-ray. Also The Telegraph, The Guardian. Cheers to one of the researchers, statistician Michelle E Johnson, MSc, of OXON Epidemiology, London–the daughter of TTA founder and EIC Emeritus Steve Hards.
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Thanks for the item, Donna, although slightly off-topic for TTA! I hope my daughter is wrong when she says that all the publicity for this major study means that her career as a medical statistician has probably peaked already!