Dementia may not pose as terrible a threat to the world’s ageing population as many have assumed. Recent research suggests that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other degenerative brain diseases as an individual grows old has decreased in recent decades. The latest evidence for declining age-specific incidence of dementia comes as the pharmaceutical industry celebrates the first demonstration of drugs to slow the progression of the disease. Biotech researchers are also making progress towards diagnostic tests to detect biological changes at a pre-symptomatic stage, when the onset of mental deterioration might be prevented.
癡呆癥可能不會對日益老齡化的世界人口構成像許多人想象的那樣可怕的威脅。最近的研究表明，近幾十年來，一個人隨著年齡增長患上阿爾茨海默氏癥(Alzheimer)和其他退行性腦部疾病的風險有所下降。在關于癡呆癥年齡特異性發病率下降的最新證據出爐之際，制藥行業正在慶祝首次有證據證明，藥物能夠減緩這種疾病的發展。生物技術研究人員在診斷測試方面也取得了進展，這些測試可以在疾病出現癥狀前階段檢測到生物指標變化，從而也許可以防止大腦退化進程的開始。