Dementia, a situation characterised by cognitive decline and reminiscence loss, is a rising concern, affecting thousands and thousands of individuals and their households worldwide. With its prevalence on the rise, understanding the elements that contribute to the chance of dementia has turn into extra necessary than ever.
On the finish of the day, age stays essentially the most important danger issue for buying dementia. Nonetheless, different elements, together with ethnicity, smoking and alcohol use, and the existence of different well being situations, may additionally play a job.
One other necessary danger issue is household historical past. However how does having a relative with dementia impression your personal danger? And when do you have to take into account getting examined? Beneath, we discover the solutions to those questions and supply sensible recommendation that can assist you make knowledgeable selections about your well being.
Does Dementia Run within the Household?
Having a detailed relative with dementia, reminiscent of a father or mother or sibling, can enhance your danger of growing the degenerative situation. It is because researchers have recognized a number of key genes which may be concerned.
Whereas we might deal with the expertise of our shut relations, analysis additional means that our extra distant family, reminiscent of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents, may additionally affect our danger of dementia. So, when assessing your personal danger, you need to take into account your broader household tree, as patterns of dementia throughout generations can give you precious insights.
Nonetheless, it’s necessary to level out that household historical past alone doesn’t imply you will develop dementia. As an alternative, it serves as an indicator—a sign to concentrate to your different potential danger elements and make adjustments the place potential to mitigate your danger.
When Ought to You Think about Genetic Testing?
Whereas genetic testing can provide you useful insights into your danger, it’s a posh determination that requires cautious thought.
If in case you have a robust familial historical past of dementia, then genetic testing could also be acceptable, significantly you probably have a number of shut family (dad and mom, siblings, or youngsters) who developed dementia at a comparatively younger age (earlier than the age of 65 years). On this state of affairs, genetic testing might let you establish a possible inherited trigger that will assist affect your way of life decisions transferring ahead.
Additionally, you probably have a household historical past of early-onset dementia and are contemplating having youngsters, genetic testing might give you helpful details about the chance of passing on a genetic mutation to your future offspring.
However keep in mind genetic testing will solely level out a susceptibility in direction of inheriting dementia; it cannot be used to foretell whether or not you’ll get it.
Early detection and intervention are key to efficiently managing dementia. At Pathways Neuropsychology Associates, we provide complete Dementia and Alzheimer’s screenings to assist people and their households higher perceive their cognitive well being and take proactive steps towards sustaining their well-being. Contact us right now to search out out extra.
