Can Brain Health Interventions Reduce Mexico’s Dementia Burden? An Essay

Abstract

There is a surge of public awareness globally about brain disease, often expressed as apprehension, fear, and requests for more information. Much of this heightened concern is based on knowing someone, or some family member, experiencing a brain disease. As a guiding principle, we could agree that every person has a unique brain capacity that should be conserved at the highest level of functional capability to the end of life. Adequate brain function is essential to human health—that is, to physical and mental functioning—over the life span. The promotion of brain health requires an appreciation of the life course contribution to conserving optimal brain function until death. People’s brains age differentially. A majority of older adults, perhaps 60%, retain relatively sound brain function to the end of life. However, 40% of Mexican adults at 80 years of age or older will likely experience some brain functional impairment. These declines in brain health and increases in impairments are not inevitable. Recently researchers in Mexico estimated that up to 56% of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) can be delayed or avoided altogether with carefully targeted interventions.