You can delay or prevent dementia

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which accounts for up to 80 percent of cases. AD is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid protein plaques and tangles of twisted tau proteins. This results in damage to brain cells and changes their ability to communicate with other cells. Another leading cause of dementia results from blood vessel bleeding or vessel blockages in the brain, which damages the brain and affects a patient’s behavior and cognitive abilities.

Today, almost 11 percent of Americans aged 65 or older have AD. That adds up to almost 7 million with this devastating disease. And 67 percent of those afflicted are women. As the population of those older than 65 grows, dementia incidence will grow also. In 2024, the total cost of dementia care was a staggering $360 billion.

There are just three approved treatments for dementia and there are no cures. The treatments involve specialized antibodies that target and remove amyloid plaques. These can reduce cognitive decline in cases of early AD. Other drugs may slow system progression and help retain quality of life. Non-drug therapies can also help slow the progression of the disease.

This latest study lists risk factors for dementia and their potential to delay or prevent the disease. The study identified 14 risk factors in a few categories, including lifestyle factors, cardiovascular factors, and cognitive engagement.

Lifestyle factors involve behavioral modification and can reduce the risk for many other chronic diseases. These include the management of obesity, smoking cessation, stopping excessive alcohol consumption and physical exercise to reduce sedentary behavior. Cardiovascular factors include reducing LDL cholesterol, hypertension and controlling diabetes.

Cognitive engagement factors are the ones you may not have heard from your doctor’s general health advice. These include eliminating social isolation and correcting untreated vision or hearing loss. Some of the factors that are harder to fix are in this category also, including low educational attainment, traumatic brain injury and environmental air pollution. It is evident that some of these factors disproportionally impact women, who are two-thirds of U.S. dementia patients. The idiom, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” certainly applies here!