Geneticists explain why Russians have almost no dementia, like Bruce Willis

– Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) usually appears earlier than other dementias – up to 60 years. It can be genetically determined, namely, mutations in the MART gene that disrupt the structure of tau proteins – the more accumulations of tau proteins with a disturbed structure, the stronger the dementia. Fronto-temporal dementia, as in this case with actor Bruce Willis, usually has a more aggressive character and, unfortunately, is incurable,” said Alexander Rakitko.

But the risk of other types of dementia is high.

If the risk of getting dementia, like Bruce, for Russians is small, you can’t say the same about other types of neurodegenerative forms of dementia. According to experts, the most common are Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.