There is one thing I notice on those maps. I changed the disease and also looked at diabetes.
That link is for DEATH rates from the title disease. Not incidence of the titled disease.
Death rates are always rather fuzzy, because the cause of death may be entered differently from the DIAGNOSIS the patient has.
For example... many die from infections, and that may be listed on the death data instead of the Alzheimer's.
Here is a link about INCIDENCE of Alzheimer's in Japan....
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijad/2012/956354/
While it is difficult to read the conclusion suggests that Alzheimer's is more common now in Japan approaching US figures.
Quote:
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In conclusion, our systematic review shows that (1) there is an increasing trend in overall dementia in Japan. Although we cannot confirm definitively from the current study, the possible explanation of the increase could be a shift in health conditions among the elderly in Japan including the increase in diabetes mellitus in more recent years despite the plateau in decline in stroke incidence during the late 1990s; (2) the similar AD/VaD ratio found in recent studies in Japan with that of the US could be due to a combination of at least 3 factors: (a) shifting diagnostic criteria (more in line with US consensus diagnosis), (b) possible shifting in health conditions among the elderly in Japan (decline in stroke incidence, but increase in metabolic disease e.g., type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis), (c) an increase in the proportion of the oldest old who had an historically higher prevalence of AD (as opposed to VaD) in Japan, and (d) regional variations (i.e., a north-to-south gradient in VaD) possibly due to large difference in dietary patterns.
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So looking at the Diabetes part of the link, shows that DEATH from diabetes in the developed countries is low... but certainly not its incidence, as we hear every day is rising.
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.-- Galileo Galilei
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Weezie looking at petunias 8.25.2017
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