Carolina Gomez Mena
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, August 28, 2022, p. 10
In Mexico it is estimated that 1.2 million people suffer from some type of dementia. In this type of disease, early diagnosis is crucial to delay cognitive decline, says Luis Miguel Gutiérrez Robledo, director of the National Institute of Geriatrics (Inger).
The geriatrician and expert in the biology of aging, commented to the day that Mexico participates in a global project that aims to provide more efficient care for patients with dementia through early diagnosis. It is a program financed by the World Economic Forum in which 6,000 people will be recruited in order to assess their mental state and identify those who are beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease, with the aim of implementing measures to delay deterioration
.
This project is deployed in cities in the United States, Japan, Scotland and Brazil, and in the country, the pilot is in Mexico City. To detect it, we are going to use an application that takes six minutes and is impressively accurate. It has an analysis algorithm that works very well. The intention is to demonstrate that it works and then generalize its application. next month we start
.
He clarified that although the result is a very clear approximation, later it is complemented with a blood sample that allows precise diagnosis
.
Gutiérrez Robledo explained that there is a form of dementia that is hereditary, which fortunately is not the most common
and added that in the development of this condition also lifestyles influence, because in industrialized countries it occurs less and later in life
while in countries with burden of diabetes, inactivity, obesity and poverty, it is much more common
. In addition, because women live to older ages, these types of illnesses are a bit more common
.
