An online calculator has been created which empowers older people to better understand their brain health and how they can reduce their risk of being diagnosed with dementia in the next five years.
The calculator, built and validated by Canadian researchers, enables individuals aged 55 and over to assess themselves using the online tool at projectbiglife.ca.
Dementia is the biggest cause of death in the UK and there are currently around 850,000 people living with the disease. This figure is projected to rise to 1.6million by 2040.
While there is no cure for dementia, around a third of dementia cases may be preventable through lifestyle factors like physical activity, healthy eating, reducing alcohol and tobacco use, and managing conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
The new calculator, created by researchers at The Ottawa Hospital, the University of Ottawa, the Bruyère Research Institute and ICES, could help to play a role in better understanding of risk factors, and therefore could help prevention.
Currently designed for use in Canada, it can be adapted for any of the 100 countries around the world that collect health survey data.
Factors in the Dementia Population Risk Tool (DemPoRT) include:
- Age
- Smoking status and lifetime exposure
- Alcohol consumption
- Physical activity
- Stress
- Diet
- Sense of belonging
- Ethnicity
- Immigration status
- Socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood
- Education
- Activities where assistance is needed
- 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. The researchers also have a goal for policy makers to use this algorithm to do the same thing for the general population.
Through this research, the team has developed the first predictive tool designed to predict dementia at a population level. It can predict the number of new cases in the 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.
“This tool will give people who fill it out clues to what they can do to reduce their personal risk of dementia,” says Dr Peter Tanuseputro, senior author of the study.
“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 sets this dementia risk calculator apart is that you don’t need to visit a doctor for any tests,” says Dr Stacey Fisher, the lead author of the study.
“People already have all the information they need to complete the calculator in the comfort of their home.”
The researchers based the dementia calculator on survey data from over 75,000 Ontarians.
The dementia calculator will be added to a list of existing calculators on Project Big Life that help Canadians estimate their own life expectancy based on habits and lifestyle choices.
