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(Ivanhoe Newswire) The fastest growing segment of the elderly population is those over the age of 90. However, not much research is done on this age group. A new study is one of the few that looks at dementia in people over 90 years old. The study finds women are more likely to have dementia after 90 years of age than men.
Previous research has showed from age 65 to 85 the risk of dementia increases in both men and women. This study done by researchers at University of California, Irvine focused on people at least 90 years old. They reviewed data on 900 people age 90 and older, including 375 with dementia.
Not only did researchers find women are more likely to have dementia than men in that age group, but they also found the likelihood of having dementia doubled every five years in women but not in men. Interestingly, the study found women with a higher education level were 45 percent less likely to have dementia compared to women with less education.
As more and more people reach age 90, our findings provide further evidence that more needs to be done to provide adequate resources to care for the increasing number of very old people with memory problems, says study author Maria Corrada, ScD.
SOURCE: Published online in the American Academy of Neurology on July 2, 2008
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