Excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, and air pollution have been added to the 2017 Lancet Commission’s list of nine potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, including less education, hypertension, hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, and low social contact. Together the 12 modifiable risk factors may account for around 40% of worldwide dementias, which might be prevented or delayed. It is never too early and never too late in the life course for dementia prevention. The understanding of dementia etiology is evolving. Amyloid-β and tau biomarkers indicate risk of progression to Alzheimer’s dementia but most people with normal cognition with only these biomarkers never develop the disease. Interventions, including organization of the complex physical illness and social needs, to support people affected by dementia can have a huge effect when taken as a whole. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/
