One-Third of Dementia May Be Preventable

A significant proportion of dementia cases could be prevented by addressing lifestyle factors that increase risk, according to a recent report presented at the AAIC 2017.

“Today’s findings are extremely hopeful,” Maria Carrillo, PhD, chief science officer at the Alzheimer’s Association, said in a press release. “At an individual level, many people have the potential to reduce their risk of cognitive decline, and perhaps dementia, through simple, healthful behavior changes. At a public health level, interventions based on this evidence could be extremely powerful in managing the global human and economic costs of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.”

The report, known as The Lancet International Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care report, was authored by 24 international experts in order to compile all of the significant recommendations and advances in dementia research that have been achieved in recent years. 

The panel’s report recommends that clinicians ambitiously pursue prevention and interventions that treat established risk factors in order to delay dementia onset. The panel developed a novel lifespan-based model of dementia risk, which describes interventions aimed at maximizing cognition and decreasing associated symptoms of dementia. This risk-model is based on research showing that 35% of all dementia is based on nine potentially modifiable risk factors. 

The nine risk factors that can be modified to reduce dementia risk include: continuous educations up to age 15, hypertension, obesity, hearing loss, depression, diabetes, physical inactivity, smoking, and low social contact. The researchers noted that 8% of all dementia cases are associated with poor early life education, while 5% of cases are associated with smoking.

In order to further pursue prevention as a dementia management strategy, the researchers recommended vigorously treating hypertension in middle age and older age. They also suggest that patients get regular exercise, maintain regular social engagement, quit smoking, and manage hearing loss. 

“While public health interventions will not prevent, or cure all potentially modifiable dementia, intervention for cardiovascular risk factors, mental health, and hearing may push back the onset of many people for years,” Gill Livingston, MD, lead author, said in a press release. —David Costill