Fourteen modifiable risk factors are behind nearly half of all dementia cases worldwide, a report claims, but genetics and old age are the main causes of the condition
By Grace Wade
31 July 2024
Vision loss has been linked to dementia
Drazen Zigic/Getty Images
A major review has identified vision loss and high cholesterol as two new risk factors for dementia. It claims that eliminating these factors, along with 12 previously recognised ones, may prevent nearly half of dementia cases worldwide. But some of these factors are hard to eliminate, and genetics and old age are still the biggest risk factors for developing the condition.
“Dementia might be one of the most important health threats facing the population,” says Gill Livingston at University College London. “So, it’s incredibly important that there is a possibility that we can change this and have significantly fewer people with [this] illness.”
A 2020 iteration of the review identified 12 potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia: hearing loss, depression, smoking, high blood pressure, heavy alcohol consumption, obesity, air pollution, traumatic brain injury, diabetes, social isolation, physical inactivity and a lack of education.
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Livingston and 26 other dementia experts from across the globe have now updated this list according to the latest evidence, keeping these 12 risk factors while adding two new ones: high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) “bad” cholesterol below the age of 65 and untreated vision loss later in life.
The researchers included high LDL cholesterol based on multiple new findings. One was an analysis of 17 studies that followed nearly 1.2 million UK participants younger than 65 years old for more than a year.