Addressing 14 health and lifestyle factors could prevent nearly half of global dementia cases
Risk factors for different conditions, including dementia, are usually identified through studies known as observational studies. These are where data from a large group of people are collected over long periods of time to see who did or didn’t go on to develop dementia. Researchers can then look at whether certain behaviours or conditions are linked to a diagnosis of dementia. Because dementia takes a long time to develop, and is influenced by risk factors that affect us throughout our lives, these observational studies are key to revealing potential risk factors for dementia. But they’re not perfect – they don’t reveal how particular risk factors are linked to the condition, nor what is happening in the brain to causes these changes.
Around the world, researchers are studying all sorts of potential dementia risk factors, publishing literally thousands of studies every year. To make sense of all this emerging evidence, twenty-seven world leading dementia experts came together for the third instalment of the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care. Reviewing the latest evidence on the factors that affect our risk of developing dementia, they’ve now established two new risk factors, taking the list from 12 to 14.
The 14 risk factors are:
- Quality of education in early life
- Social isolation
- Air pollution
- Traumatic brain injury
- Hearing loss
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Physical inactivity
- Smoking
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Uncorrected vision loss
- High cholesterol
The researchers calculate that if, as a society and as individuals, we could completely address these 14 health and lifestyle factors it could prevent or delay nearly half (45%) of dementia cases.