改变生活方式可预防老年痴呆

Lifestyle Changes Can Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's A new, theoretical analysis finds that about half of the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease are potentially changeable, and that reducing them could substantially decrease the number of new cases of disease worldwide, according to a study to be presented Tuesday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.

据老年痴呆症协会国际会议（Alzheimer's Association International Conference）发表的一项研究，一项新的理论分析发现，老年痴呆症(Alzheimer’s disease，又称阿兹海默症)的风险因素大约有一半可能是可变的，降低这些风险因素可能大大降低全世界范围内的新发病数量。

The study is the first known analysis that tries to quantify and compare how risk factors are associated with Alzheimer's. It will be published Tuesday on the journal Lancet Neurology's website after the conference presentation.

这项研究是已知的首个试图将风险因素与老年痴呆症的关联加以量化并进行比较的分析。在上述国际会议上演示后，这项研究将在医学杂志《柳叶刀•神经病学》(Lancet Neurology)的网站上发表。

Factors that increase one's risk for Alzheimer's that are considered modifiable include diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, sedentary behavior, depression and low educational level, say the authors from the University of California, San Francisco.

来自加州大学旧金山分校(University of California, San Francisco)的研究作者们说，在可增加个体患老年痴呆症风险的因素中，被认为可变的因素包括糖尿病、高血压、肥胖、抽烟、久坐、情绪低落以及受教育水平低。

In the U.S., physical inactivity is the biggest changeable factor, accounting for 21% of the risk for Alzheimer's, followed by depression and smoking. Added together, the factors account for about 50% of the risk.

在美国，缺乏锻炼是最大的可变因素，占老年痴呆症风险的21%，排在其后的是情绪低落和抽烟。这三大因素加在一起占了50%左右的风险。

If these risk factors were decreased by just 10%, about 184,000 Alzheimer's cases in the U.S. and 1.1 million cases world-wide could be prevented, according to the research. A reduction of 25% on all seven risk factors could prevent nearly half a million cases in the U.S. and more than three million world-wide, the analyses showed.

根据这项研究，如果这些风险因素下降区区10%，在美国就会有大约18.4万老年痴呆症患者可以得到预防，全球预防人数为110万。分析显示，如果所有七项风险可下降25%，美国的预防人数就会接近50万，全球范围内超过300万。

There are some five million people in the U.S. thought to have Alzheimer's, according to the Alzheimer's Association, and about 36 million cases globally, according to Alzheimer's Disease International.

据老年痴呆症协会的数据，美国有大约500万人被认为患有老年痴呆症，而国际老年痴呆症协会（Alzheimer's Disease International）数据显示，全球患者约3,600万。

"The estimates suggest that in the population, up to half of Alzheimer's cases could be modifiable,' said Deborah Barnes, a psychiatry professor at UCSF who will present the results. "If we changed those risk factors…it could have this huge impact' at the population level, she said in an interview.

加州大学旧金山分校的精神病学教授黛博拉•巴尼斯(Deborah Barnes)负责演示研究结果。她接受采访时说，上述预计表明，所有人口中最多一半的老年痴呆症病患的病情可以减轻。如果我们改变这些风险因素……就有可能在群体水平上产生这种巨大的效应。

One caveat to these findings: They are based on mathematical models that predict what might happen if the assumptions on which the model was based are real. In this case, the researchers assumed that the risk factors caused Alzheimer's disease, which means that if they were modified, the rates of Alzheimer's would change as well.

关于上述结果需要提醒的一点是：它们是基于数学模型，如果这些模型所依据的前提是正确的，它们就可以预测可能发生的情况。在这项研究中，研究人员假定是这些风险因素导致了老年痴呆症，这就意味着如果这些风险因素得到修正，老年痴呆症的比例也会随之变化。

In reality, the causes of Alzheimer's are still unclear, and it hasn't been proven that stopping smoking, for example, actually lowers one's risk of getting dementia.

事实上，老年痴呆症的起因仍然不明，而诸如戒烟等行为事实上是否能降低痴呆风险也未经验证。

These estimates were calculated based on published data about how frequently the risk factors occur in the population as well as the extent to which each factor increases one's risk of Alzheimer's, known as relative risk.

这些估计是根据已发布的相关数据计算出来的，包括风险因素在人群中发生的频率，以及每种因素会在多大程度上加剧老年痴呆症风险，也就是相对风险。

For instance, depression nearly doubles one's risk of developing Alzheimer's. Each factor alone increases one's risk of Alzheimer's anywhere from about 50% to 100%, according to Dr. Barnes.

比如说，抑郁几乎会导致罹患老年痴呆症的风险增加一倍。据巴尼斯说，每种因素各自都会导致患老年痴呆症的风险增加约50%至100%。

The next step in this work is to do prevention trials to try to modify these risks to see if they can actually stave off Alzheimer's, Dr. Barnes says. She hopes to conduct a trial on physical activity, because it 'seems like the biggest bang for your buck,' because it is known to help the brain, the heart and mood, she says.

巴尼斯说，这项研究的下一步工作是展开预防试验，试图修正这些风险，看看能否真的防止老年痴呆症。她说希望负责一项针对体育锻炼情况的试验，因为这似乎是最重要的一项，众所周知，体育锻炼对大脑、心脏和情绪都有益。