Dementia Risk Test

The BBC says some Finnish doctors have devised a risk test for dementia. This includes Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. (Is it all of what we used to call senility?)

The test calculates risk by assessing factors such as blood pressure level, body mass index and cholesterol levels, along with age and education.

The older you are, the higher chance you have.

The less educated you are, the higher chance you have.

The higher your blood presure, the higher chance you have.

The higher your cholesterol, the higher chance you have.

The higher your BMI, the higher chance you have.

So, when I get this weight off, the only thing I’ll need to do is become young again.

Later on they say, “The predictive test takes information about age, number of years spent in education, sex, body mass index, blood pressure level, cholesterol level, physical activity and genetic factors and assigns each with a risk score related to their association with dementia.”

I have no genetic factors. I am physically active these days. I don’t know which sex is better.

They also say, “A high-risk result, said the team, could encourage lifestyle changes.”

Maybe. But the first thing I thought was, okay, I’ll change my age. How do I do that?