As per the latest report from the 2024 Lancet Commission, vision loss, high cholesterol, less education and social isolation are some of the risk factors for developing dementia. 

Nearly half of dementia cases can be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors starting in childhood, as per the latest report from the 2024 Lancet Commission. The authors have added two new risk factors – high cholesterol and vision loss – to the 2020 Lancet Commission list of risk factors for dementia. This comprises lower levels of education, hearing impairment, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, air pollution and social isolation.

We can prevent and better manage dementia, if action to tackle these risk factors begins in childhood and continues throughout life, even in individuals with high genetic risk for dementia, note 27 world-leading dementia experts, who are authors of the latest report. They outline 13 recommendations for individuals and governments to help reduce the risk. These include preventing and treating hearing loss, vision loss, and depression; being cognitively active throughout life; using head protection in contact sports; reducing vascular risk factors (high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure); improving air quality; and providing supportive community environments to increase social contact.

Given the rapidly ageing population around the world, the number of people living with dementia is expected to almost triple by 2050, rising from 57 million in 2019 to 153 million. Increasing life expectancy is also driving a surge in people with dementia in low-income countries. Global health and social costs related to dementia are estimated at over one trillion dollars every year.

However, in some high-income countries, including the US and UK, the proportion of older people with dementia has fallen, particularly among those in socio-economically advantaged areas. The report authors say that this decline in people developing dementia is probably in part due to building cognitive and physical resilience over the life course and less vascular damage as a result of improvements in healthcare and lifestyle changes, demonstrating the importance of implementing prevention approaches as early as possible. 

The Lancet Commission calls for governments and individuals to be ambitious about tackling risks across the life course for dementia, arguing that the earlier we can address and reduce risk factor levels, the better. New evidence shows that reducing the risks of dementia not only increases years of healthy life, but also reduces the time people who develop dementia spend in ill health.

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