Lancet commission on dementia finds 14 risk factors that could reduce cases by 45%

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The Lancet’s latest worldwide report on dementia prevention, intervention and care finds that around 45% of cases of dementia are potentially preventable by addressing 14 risk factors.

The report published yesterday (31 July), is the latest update by the Lancet’s Commission on dementia since 2020.

A review of the research finds compelling evidence to add untreated vision loss through glaucoma or cataracts and high LDL cholesterol, known as ‘bad’ cholesterol, as new risk factors.

The latest advances in biomarkers for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease and new definitions of the disease and its progress are also updated.

According to Alzheimer Europe, 9.1 million people will be living with dementia in the EU by 2025. They project that this could rise to 14.3 million by 2050.

Dementia is already the third leading cause of death, which they estimate places a cost of €392 billion on the economy.

“It’s remarkably hopeful, the interventions like decreasing alcohol and smoking, treating high-blood pressure reduce risk,” said one of the report’s authors, Professor Gill Livingston of University College London.

While some factors might be addressed through promoting better choices through public health campaigns, areas like air pollution, ensuring access to affordable good quality food and preventing smoking require more government intervention.

The 14 factors identified in the report are: less education, hearing loss, hypertension, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption (more than 21 units a week), traumatic brain injury, air pollution, social isolation, untreated vision loss and high LDL cholesterol are risk factors for dementia.

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The 2024 report is the third in a series that started in 2017, when researchers found evidence for nine lifestyle and environmental risk factors for dementia. In the 2020 report, three new risk factors were added, and it was estimated that 40% of all cases were related to these ‘modifiable’ risk factors. The update is based on new peer-reviewed research.

Dementia action plan

Executive Director for Alzheimer Europe, Jean Georges, welcomed the report, but warned that this does not negate the need for condition-specific strategies which provide a coordinated policy response across health, research and social policies.

“It is essential for a European Dementia Plan to be developed, following on from the template laid out by the European Beating Cancer Plan,” he said.

“We call on President Ursula von der Leyen to uphold the commitment made by her party (the European People’s Party) in their European Parliament Manifesto 2024, which promised to develop and implement a dementia-specific plan.”

[Edited by Chris Powers]