Study Finds Nearly Half of Dementia Cases Can Be Prevented or Delayed

Living with dementia is a difficult experience not just for the patient, but for their family and friends who surround them. While you might feel helpless watching a loved one slip further into cognitive decline, it turns out you might be able to put it off or prevent it altogether by keeping your health in check. 

A new study published in The Lancet journal gathered more than two dozen of the world's leading dementia experts to explore possible ways of mitigating the onset of dementia. In the end, they found that nearly half of dementia cases globally could be prevented or delayed, identifying 14 risk factors throughout one's life that can possibly contribute to the development of the disease. 

The 14 modifiable risk factors start in childhood and continue through adulthood. Twelve of them have been documented as potential risk factors for dementia in past studies, and the latest report from The Lancet's dementia commission adds two more to the list based on new evidence from the latest study. 

Potential risk factors for dementia that can be mitigated, they say, include physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, hearing loss, depression, infrequent social contact, head injury, air pollution, and low education level; now, vision loss and high LDL cholesterol are a part of that list as well. 

"Overall, around 45 percent of cases of dementia are potentially preventable by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors at different stages during the life course," the scientists wrote in the study. 

Related: Study Finds Alcoholism, Economic Status Increase Risk of Early-Onset Dementia

Study lead author Gill Livingston spoke about the findings in an interview with The Guardian. 

"Many people around the world believe dementia is inevitable but it’s not. Our report concludes that you can hugely increase the chances of not developing dementia or pushing back its onset," she said. "It’s also important to stress that while we now have stronger evidence that longer exposure to risk has a greater effect… It’s never too early or too late to take action."

Related: Study Finds Good News for Dog Ownership and Dementia Risk

Tackling these things head-on isn't just believed to prevent dementia altogether. Reducing these risks was found to not only increase the number of years of healthy life lived, but also shrank the amount of time people who developed dementia spent in bad health. 

"Healthy lifestyles that involve regular exercise, not smoking, cognitive activity in midlife—including outside formal education—and avoiding excess alcohol cannot only lower dementia risk but may also push back dementia onset," Livingston said. This conclusion, combined with the ability to shorten the amount of time spent suffering from more severe dementia symptoms, should have "huge quality-of-life implications for individuals as well as cost-saving benefits for societies."

Let the research serve as a reminder that it's never too late to get your health in order. In fact, the sooner you do, the better.