Nearly Half of Dementia Cases May Be Linked to Risks You Can Change

New research from Lund University has shed light on how specific risk factors are associated with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, the two most common causes of dementia.

According to the study, nearly half of dementia cases may be connected to risk factors that people can potentially change, including smoking and high blood pressure. The researchers found that factors such as age, gender, and genetics are partly responsible for shaping a person’s dementia risk, while modifiable influences like smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids, physical activity, alcohol consumption, hearing loss, and high blood pressure can also play a significant role.

Dementia is not a single disease, but rather a collection of symptoms that can result from several different disorders. This means that the risks may vary depending on the underlying cause. To gain a better understanding of how individual risk factors are connected to brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, researchers at Lund University examined how specific risk factors are linked to brain changes.

The study involved almost 500 participants who had an average age of 65 and showed no signs of cognitive impairment. Researchers followed them for four years, measuring changes in the brain’s white matter, the nerve fibers that are often damaged in vascular dementia. They also monitored levels of amyloid β and tau, two proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

The team found that most of the modifiable factors examined, including smoking, cardiovascular disease, high blood lipids, and high blood pressure, were associated with damage to blood vessels in the brain. They were also linked to a more rapid buildup of changes in white matter.