Shared and Region-Specific Dementia Risk Factors

Dementia risk factors vary substantially across countries, but they frequently cluster together in similar patterns worldwide, supporting both context-specific prevention strategies and multidomain interventions. In this comparative cross-sectional study of 214,251 adults aged 50 years and older from 14 countries and regions spanning high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries, researchers examined the prevalence of 12 established modifiable dementia risk factors. Marked regional differences were observed—for example, low education was far more common in China than in the US (85.6% vs. 12.0%), while obesity was much more prevalent in the US than in India (44.9% vs. 13.3%). The prevalence of risk factors also differed by age, sex, and education, although these patterns were not consistent across all settings. Despite these differences, more than half of participants in every country had at least two dementia risk factors, and similar clusters of cardiovascular, behavioral, and social or sensory risk factors were identified across diverse populations. These findings suggest that while dementia prevention should be tailored to local population needs, common patterns of co-occurring risk factors provide opportunities to develop shared multidomain prevention strategies and public health policies worldwide. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/