Canadian researchers say they have developed an online calculator that can tell people 55 and older if they could be diagnosed with dementia in the next five years.

Dementia is an umbrella term for loss of memory and other cognitive abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life, the researchers wrote in a release on scienceblog.com. Every year, 76,000 new cases of dementia are diagnosed in Canada, a number expected to increase as the population ages.

Although there is currently no cure or treatment for dementia, a third of cases could be prevented with physical activity, healthy eating, reduced alcohol and tobacco use, and by managing diabetes and high blood pressure.

“What sets this dementia risk calculator apart is that you don’t need to visit a doctor for any tests,” said Dr. Stacey Fisher, the lead author of the study who performed the research largely in Ottawa while she was a PhD student. “People already have all the information they need to complete the calculator in the comfort of their home.”

The researchers based their calculator on survey data from more 75,000 Ontarians.

Factors in the Dementia Population Risk Tool include:

  • Age
  • Smoking status and lifetime exposure
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Physical activity
  • Stress
  • Diet
  • Sense of belonging
  • Ethnicity
  • Immigration status
  • Socioeconomic status of the neighborhood
  • Education
  • Marital status
  • Number of languages spoken
  • Health conditions

The calculator can be used by individuals to assess their dementia risk and help them modify their lifestyle. And don’t worry that it was created in Canada. Weight and height are in both metric and the imperial system, which we use in the United States.

The team wrote that it has developed the first tool to predict dementia at a population level. It can predict the number of new cases in a community, identify higher-risk populations, inform dementia prevention strategies, and will be used to support Canada’s national dementia strategy. By using regularly collected health data and surveys, population health experts have all the information they need to use the algorithm. Although it was designed for use in Canada, the researchers said it can be adapted for any of the 100 countries around the world that collect health survey data.

“This tool will give people who fill it out clues to what they can do to reduce their personal risk of dementia,” said Dr. Peter Tanuseputro, senior author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. “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.”

What to check your risk? The calculator is available at projectbiglife.ca.

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