If you suffered a fall during the year and you are 66 years or older, you have a greater risk of dementia than people who have not fallen recently. This is in essence the conclusion of a new scientific study, published on September 30, 2024 in the JAMA Network Open (source 1).
By analyzing data relating to claims for compensation from Medicare, the American health insurance system, researchers discovered that dementia was more frequently diagnosed in the year following a fallcompared to other types of injuries. Thus, between two elderly people present in the emergency room for injuries, the one who was injured by falling will be more likely to develop dementia within the year than the one who was injured due to something else (domestic or road accident, etc.). .
A two-way relationship
The study, which covered more than 2 million people aged 66 and over having injured themselves, reveals that 10.6% of those who fell were subsequently diagnosed with dementia. So, compared to other types of injuries, falls were associated with a 21% increased risk of being diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimer’s, dementia with Lewy bodies and related).
“The relationship between falls and dementia appears to go both ways”, commented the study’s lead author, Molly Jarman, deputy director of the Center for Surgery and…
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