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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
One in three cases of dementia could be prevented if more people looked after their brain health throughout life, according to an international study in the Lancet.
It lists nine key risk factors including lack of education, hearing loss, smoking and physical inactivity.
The study is being presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London.
By 2050, 131 million people could be living with dementia globally.
There are estimated to be 47 million people with the condition at the moment.
[...] These risk factors - which are described as potentially modifiable - add up to 35%. The other 65% of dementia risk is thought to be potentially non-modifiable.
Source: Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday July 23 2017, @06:09PM (8 children)
Does the hearing loss mean total hearing loss, leading to isolation?
Because otherwise it doesn't make much sense, and the percentage seems rather high, and it might be simply a subset of the social isolation group. Add those two groups together and your leading causal factor just made a huge change.
Hmmm, nobody wants to talk to someone who has just about no education either. Seeing a pattern here.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by number11 on Sunday July 23 2017, @06:52PM (1 child)
I think it must mean total hearing loss, because I have partial hearing loss and my mind is...
what were we talking about?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @06:48AM
This. If the hearing test is, raise your hand when you hear the beep. And you forget to raise your hand, or what a beep is, or what your hand is. You fail the "hearing test".
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday July 23 2017, @07:16PM (5 children)
Hearing loss is likely to mean impaired hearing as the statistical mean. And isolation is something else, likely low on meaningful social interaction. They can coincide but that is not implied.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday July 23 2017, @09:00PM (4 children)
I think total loss is what they are talking about, and the quote from the First link suggests as much:
So simply being slightly hard of hearing in certain frequencies, as is typical of loud music or heavy machinery noise may not impair social interaction all that much. Total loss on the other hand is sort of a big deal. Simple deviation from the mean would not amount to the high level of risk posted above.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by number11 on Sunday July 23 2017, @09:48PM (3 children)
Seriously, I'm pushing into the age of hearing loss and dementia myself. I know and socialize with a lot of people in their 70s and 80s. Partial hearing loss is common. (I can understand you better with one ear than the other, which leads to the amusing situation where if we are standing outdoors talking, I'll rotate a bit to point my good ear at you, and you'll orbit a little to get back in front of my face, simulating the earth-moon system. I experimented and managed to get one complete revolution without the naive subject noticing. My own situation is lifelong, but age is making it worse.) But I don't know anybody with total loss. It could be selection bias (they don't come out of their apartment) but I think it is actually pretty rare. If so, it's not a particularly useful risk indicator. And the people I've known who did exhibit dementia didn't seem unusually hard of hearing.
But partial loss does make it more difficult to communicate, especially in a noisy (e.g. lunchroom) environment. Unfortunately, most insurance (and medicare) doesn't cover hearing aids, which are priced at astronomical levels. Several thousand dollars for what should be $50 worth of electronics that could be programmed using a smartphone app.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday July 23 2017, @11:15PM
Build a hearing aid yourself? should not a hard these days except for regulations..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @06:53AM (1 child)
$50 of electronics?
Even the cheapest cell phone on the market contains all the components need to build a hearing aid. And it can literally be built with vacuum tube technology.
It is only the cartel-isation of the medical devices, and more generally medical profession that keeps prices high.
Someone should to a kickstarter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 24 2017, @07:31PM
To get nice boost/cutoff frequencies, you'll want a bunch of gain (numerous operational amplifiers).
Heh. You're taking me back to the 1970s and a plug-in for Tektronix tube-based oscilloscopes. [google.com]
(The gear was more than a decade old then.)
It was loaded up with vacuum tubes (peanut tubes) and was about the size of a 24oz loaf of bread, the short fat type. [google.com]
Your notion would be pretty bulky--even using the tiniest tubes available. [google.com]
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