Study reveals cardiovascular health could be biggest risk factor for dementia

Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease, are estimated to affect 944,000 people in the UK

Researchers from University College London (UCL) have revealed that cardiovascular health could be the biggest risk factor associated with future dementia.

Published in the Lancet Public Health, the study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Three Schools’ Dementia Research Programme.

Estimated to affect 944,000 people in the UK, dementia is a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that affects everyday life.

The most prevalent dementias include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia.

Researchers analysed and extracted data from 27 papers involving people with dementia worldwide, with data collected between 1947 and 2015 and the latest paper published in 2020.

The extracted information from each paper about dementia risk factors was then used to calculate what proportion of dementia cases were attributable to each one over time.

Despite dementia being known to develop because of a combination of both genetic and environmental factors such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, education and smoking, researchers found that having less education and smoking had become less common over time and was associated with a decline in dementia rates.

In comparison, the team found that rates of obesity and diabetes have increased over time, as has their contribution to dementia risk.

Researchers also highlighted that hypertension remained the greatest dementia risk factor in most of the studies.

Commenting on the results, lead author Dr Naaheed Mukadam, UCL Psychiatry, said: “These patterns suggest that population-level interventions could significantly impact the occurrence of dementia risk factors, and governments should consider implementing schemes such as worldwide policies of education and restrictions on smoking.

“[These] cardiovascular risk factors… deserve more targeted action for future dementia prevention efforts.”

Most recently, several dementia organisations collaborated to create a new manifesto for dementia ahead of the upcoming 2024 general election (4 July), calling on the next UK government to make dementia a key health priority.