Study Reveals Which States Have Highest Dementia Rates

Source: JAMA Neurology via the New York Post• Person-years: Used by researchers to describe incidence over a specified period of time for a population.

While factors including genetics and lifestyle have long been considered among the  chief risk factors for dementia, a new study by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has discovered that where you live may also have an impact. The researchers identified that certain regions of the country consistently have either higher or lower rates of the condition, and the results might be alarming to some.

Dementia already affects over 6 million Americans, causing over 100,000 premature deaths annually, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Other studies have predicted that the number of new U.S. dementia cases are likely to double, from roughly 514,000 in 2020 to almost 1 million in 2060.

The researchers at UC San Francisco examined data from over 1.2 million military veterans aged 65 or older. Over an average of 12 years, the research team tracked who among them developed the condition and compared the numbers by geographic location.

The Mid-Atlantic states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland had the lowest rate of dementia, with but 11.2 cases per 1,000 people.

Unfortunately for the residents of four Southern states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, which all border each other, these states had the highest rates of dementia in the country, with 14.6 dementia cases per 1,000 people. This is a 25% increase over residents from the Mid-Atlantic states.

With 13.6 cases per 1,000 people, Texas those states bordering it had the second highest rate of dementia cases. This was followed by the Northwestern and Rocky Mountain states with 13.4 cases per 1,000 people.

Aside from the Mid-Atlantic states, the regions with the fewest number of dementia cases were the Northeast, with 11.9 cases per 1,000 people, and the Midwest, with 12.2 cases per 1,000 people.

In a statement, Dr. Kristine Yaffe, MD, the senior researcher, said that “the study underscores the need to understand regional differences in dementia and the importance of region-specific prevention and intervention efforts.”

The UCSF research team were not able to explain these regional differences based on common factors like age, race, physical health or the differences between rural and urban living.  

Furthermore, they note that the study’s results do have limitations, as the authors only analyzed the health data of U.S. military veterans, who may have other health risks not shared by the general population, such as brain injuries and PTSD.

The researchers plan on further studying the causes of these geographic disparities.