改变生活方式可预防老年痴呆

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。