Nearly half of all Alzheimer’s disease and dementia cases are preventable and tied to lifestyle factors, such as obesity in midlife and not exercising.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are age-related disorders characterized by memory loss, cognitive decline, and behavioral changes. As many as 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a figure expected to triple in the next three decades. Findings from a recent study suggest that more than 40 percent of all Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia cases in the United States are attributable to a small number of modifiable lifestyle factors.

The investigators drew on data collected in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, a telephone interview-based survey of adults living in the United States. Their analysis included nearly 380,000 adults (aged 65 years and older) who provided health, lifestyle, and demographic information about factors that influence dementia risk, including physical inactivity, smoking, depression, low education, diabetes, midlife obesity, midlife hypertension, and hearing loss.

They found that eight modifiable risk factors drove more than one-third of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among people living in the United States. Most of these cases were attributable to having obesity in midlife, not exercising, and low education. The percentage of preventable Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia cases was higher for men than women and higher among Blacks and Hispanics than among Caucasians and Asians.

These findings suggest that lifestyle factors play critical roles in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia risk. Learn more about how lifestyle influences Alzheimer’s disease and dementia risk in this episode featuring Dr. Dale Bredesen.

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