In examining my only family’s medical history , I’ve seen a pattern that is hard to ignore: Those who succumb to cancer don’t develop Alzheimer’s and those who had some sort of dementia did not develop cancer in their lifetime. I had a feeling this was more than just a coincidence. This past week, The Alzheimer’s Society of the UK released a report that was published in Neurology Today which confirmed my personal observation. What does this mean to us? Which direction will the scale of fate lean? Even if one condition protects you from the other, it’s certainly not much comfort. Let’s hope this latest study will somehow lead to a breakthrough in curing both!
Published 10 July 2013
Older people with Alzheimer’s disease are less likely to also have cancer, and older people with cancer are less likely to also have Alzheimer’s disease.
This is according to a study published in Neurology today (Wednesday 10 July 2013). The study of 204,468 Italian people aged 60 and older found that over six years, 21,451 people developed cancer and 2,832 people developed Alzheimer’s disease. 161 people had both cancer and Alzheimer’s. That number would have been expected to be 281 for cancer and 246 for Alzheimer’s. This means the risk of cancer was cut in half for people with Alzheimer’s disease and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was reduced by 35 per cent for people with cancer.
Alzheimer’s Society comment:
‘This is a large, well thought through study which provides more evidence on the potential that there could be underlying factors that connect cancer andAlzheimer’s disease. What exactly these links are – and why they seemingly provide some level of protection against the other disease – is something that we will need to get to the bottom of through more research.
‘One in three people over 65 will develop dementia. If we are to make the breakthroughs in treatments and understanding that we have seen in other conditions we must ensure that dementia research is given the investment it deserves.’
Dr Doug Brown
Director of Research
Alzheimer’s Society
