Marriage could help reduce dementia risk

Dec 04, 2017 06:00 am

Being married, or having been married, comes with a much lower risk of developing dementia compared to being a lifelong bachelor or bachelorette, a new analysis of previous studies suggests.

Researchers found that people who never married were 42 per cent more likely than those who were married at midlife to be diagnosed with dementia.

The widowed have a 20 per cent increased risk of developing dementia compared with married individuals.

Being divorced, though, was not tied to higher dementia risk compared with the folks who stayed married.

As for the lack of difference between married people and those who are divorced, lead author Andrew Sommerlad of University College London attributes it to the possibility that many divorced people continue to keep in contact with each other, especially if they have children together.- REUTERS