The number of people living with dementia is expected to almost triple by 2050—from 57 million in 2019 to 153 million.
But nearly half of these cases can be delayed or prevented by tackling 14 modifiable risk factors, finds a new report published in The Lancet. The 14 modifiable risk factors which are linked with 40 per cent of all dementia cases are lower levels of education, hearing loss, vision loss, high blood pressure, diabetes, high LDL cholesterol, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, physical inactivity, brain injury, air pollution depression and social isolation.
Hearing loss and high LDL cholesterol are responsible for most cases of preventable dementia, followed by less education in early life and social isolation in later life. Longer exposure to these risk factors has a greater impact, especially in people with high genetic risk for dementia.
“Our new report reveals that there is much more that can and should be done to reduce the risk of dementia. It is never too early or too late to take action, with opportunities to make an impact at any stage of life,” the lead author said. “Healthy lifestyles that involve regular exercise, not smoking, cognitive activity in midlife [including outside formal education] and avoiding excess alcohol can not only lower dementia risk, but may also push back its onset. So, if people do develop dementia, they are likely to live less years with it. This has huge quality of life implications for individuals as well as cost-saving benefits for societies.”