The researchers set out to see if there had been an increase in the numbers of older people who were reporting their first concerns about memory loss or cognitive decline to their doctor and what their chances of developing dementia were after consultation.
The study, published today in Clinical Epidemiology, looked at data from more than 1.3m adults aged between 65 and 99 years old, taken between 2009 and the end of 2018. The researchers identified 55,941 adults who had spoken to their GP about memory concerns and 14,869 people who had a record of cognitive decline.
For every 1,000 people that were observed for one year in 2009, there was one new case of cognitive decline being recorded. By 2018, for every 1,000 people that were observed for one year, there were three new cases of cognitive decline being recorded.
Lead author and PhD candidate Brendan Hallam (UCL Epidemiology &…
