[Dixielandjazz] Dementia

[fred spencer]

  Thanks Stan.One more flawed report to be welcomed by the nation of 
hypochondriacal pillpushers that we have become, thanks to the media, 
especially the unethical, free-sampled, dollar-producing TVcommercials 
of drug firms! Although I would have to read all this dementia paper, 
one obvious fault is that the sample is too small for the conclusion to 
be drawn -- another is that there was no control group, i.e. a  matched 
group of people who did not indulge in the activities of the 
experimental group, and who may have done equally well. The length of 
 patient participation is also questionable, because half of the 
participants were followed for more, and half for less, than the "median 
5.1 years". The last sentence says it all--"Controlled trials are needed 
to assess the protective effect of cognitive leisure activities on the 
risk of dementia." Why didn't the nine [?publish or perish!] authors do 
that, and why did the New England Journal of Medicine publish an 
admittedly incomplete investigation in its hallowed columns?
Play and dance if you enjoy it, but don't think you are going to become 
demeted if you don't. Be of good cheer!
Fred
Stan Brager wrote:

>An article in today's Los Angeles Times got my attention about dementia and the elderly. To quote from an abstract of the article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (bolding is mine):
>
>"Among leisure activities, reading, playing board games, playing musical instruments, and dancing were associated with a reduced risk of dementia."
>
>To read more, follow this internet address:
>
>http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/348/25/2508
>
>Note: if you're not elderly, don't worry... just yet.
>
>Stan
>Stan Brager
>Trombonist-in-Training
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