Natural disasters may increase your risk of DEMENTIA, study warns

As well as causing death and destruction, a study suggests natural disasters can put people at a greater risk of developing dementia. Using health and survey data on people living in the areas worst hit by a 2011 tsunami in Japan, experts from Harvard University explored the link between cognitive decline and natural disasters. The event, which killed 20,000 and saw 100,000 children uprooted from their homes, may also have contributed to cognitive decline in older adults, they found. More than 3,000 people with an average age of 73 were questioned about their cognitive state, finding those that lost a home in the disaster experienced an increase in their rate of cognitive decline, but losing a loved one had no impact. The team say this is linked to increased isolation, with the unmarried, lower educated and eldest at the greatest risk of increasing cognitive decline.