Longevity Briefs: Dementia Is Even More Preventable Than We Thought

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Longevity briefs provides a short summary of novel research in biology, medicine, or biotechnology that caught the attention of our researchers in Oxford, due to its potential to improve our health, wellbeing, and longevity.

The problem:

Dementia is currently incurable, so minimising your risk in later life is key. Back in 2020, a Lancet report suggested that a staggering 40% of dementia cases could be completely prevented with a healthy lifestyle. Now, a new Lancet report published last week suggests that this number is even higher.

The discovery:

In the report, researchers present the conclusions of a new analysis of dementia risk factors. They take into account the most up to date literature concerning dementia risks and prevalence in order to estimate the proportion of cases that are attributable to different risk factors. Just as before, they suggest how dementia risk can be minimised throughout the course of one’s life. Overall, they estimate that around 45% of dementia cases worldwide are preventable through the modification of 14 risk factors, which includes two newly included factors: LDL cholesterol and visual loss.

*https://www.thelancet.com/infographics-do/dementia-risk*

The implications:

The implications of nearly 50% of dementia being preventable are amazing on their own. Aside from being a terrible group of diseases, dementia places a significant burden on healthcare and society. This problem will only become more severe as the average age of the population increases due to the decline in the global birth rate.

The data presented here highlights the importance of acting at all stages of life to prevent dementia later on, but also suggests that late action can still have a significant impact. In the report’s words, it’s ‘never too early or too late to reduce dementia risk’. The report also suggests that even in people who do develop dementia, minimising these risk factors significantly delays disease onset, reducing the number of years spent in ill health. So young or old, there’s no reason not to take whatever preventative action you can.