Afirst of its kind study by a South Australian university is exploring whether risk factors for dementia impact rural and metropolitan communities differently.
The Re-ACTIVate Study is being undertaken by researchers from the University of South Australia’s Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA) Research Centre, Associate Professor Ashleigh Smith and Doctor Maddison Mellow.
Associate Professor Smith said they are exploring how known modifiable risk factors for dementia, which include lower levels of education, poor heart health, physical inactivity, social isolation and air pollution, differ in rural areas compared to cities.
“There are at least 14 potentially modifiable lifestyle factors which have been identified to increase your risk of dementia,” she said.
“What this study is really looking to do is see whether some of these factors are having more of an impact on people who live rurally compared to people who live in the city.
“We know that at least 45% of dementia cases are due to potentially modifiable factors – the other 55% of cases are due to things we cannot change, like increasing age, genetics or family history.
“In most cases it is really hard to pinpoint exactly why people develop dementia, but we know on a population level that if we reduce some of those modifiable risk factors we can reduce the prevalence of dementia or delay dementia onset.”
With this information, the overall aim of their research program is “to work with rural communities to design rural-specific dementia prevention strategies, rather than simply re-purposing city-based solutions which are often not appropriate nor feasible”.
Doctor Mellow said the research team visited Mount Gambier in November last year and will be visiting again in May.
“What happens is our research team go and visit the community for one to two weeks at a time, and we ask participants to answer questions about their lifestyle, health history and background, and complete some memory and thinking tasks,” she said.
“With that information we can compare to our city dataset and see whether particular modifiable risk factors for dementia might need to be more of a focus in rural dementia prevention strategies.
“So far we have been to Port Broughton, Victor Harbor, Naracoorte, Bordertown, Mount Gambier, Berri, and Port Lincoln.
“It is a unique project in that we’re going out to see people in their own communities.
“I think the important thing is the participants we are seeing are the experts on their communities, and they are the experts on which strategies will and will not work.”
The criteria for participants includes being between 60 and 80 years of age, living more than a one hour drive outside of Adelaide, and not having a dementia diagnosis.
Associate Professor Smith said they are hoping to collect a sample of around 200 participants from across regional South Australia to compare to similar metropolitan samples.
For more information or to apply contact Doctor Mellow at Maddison.Mellow@unisa.edu.au or call (08) 8302 7035.
