The risk of developing dementia doubles every five years after age 65, until by age 85, almost 50 percent of North Americans suffer some degree of dementia. Finnish researchers showed that they were able to slow the onset of dementia in people at high risk with a program that included:
- A healthful lifestyle aimed at preventing heart attacks
- Heart attack risk monitoring
- Exercises to improve memory
The study group contained 1,260 people, aged 60–77, who were at high risk for dementia because they had average or below-average memory scores and high heart-attack-risk factors.
Half of the group participated in the intervention program for two years, while half served as the control group. After two years, the intervention group had a 150 percent greater ability to process new information and an 83 percent greater improvement in cognitive function, compared to the control group. However, memory had not improved in either group.
