Why dementia is more prevalent in rural areas

The Asian Age With Agency Inputs

Life, Health

Access to healthcare is a key reason.

Representational Image. (Photo: Pexels)

A US study found dementia is more common in rural areas .

American researchers found those who lived in urban areas tended to be healthier because of having better access to healthcare facilities, the Daily Mail reported.

Higher level of education was also noted as decreasing the risk of disrupting brain functions for people in rural communities between the ages of 55 and older.

Researchers from the RAND Corporation, a non-profit research organization from California, came to this conclusion after evaluating close 16, 000 American adults in 2000and 2010.

Age, race, ethnicity and health conditions like blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, lung cancer, heart disease and stroke were also assessed. The results revealed, dementia was more prevalent in rural areas (7.1 percent) than urban areas (5.4 percent), the report revealed.

This is the first study in the country to find dementia is more prevalent in rural areas and call for better healthcare facilities in these areas.

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