2025/06/23 Study Reveals Nearly Half of Dementia Cases Could Be Prevented Through Lifestyle Changes

A comprehensive report from The Lancet Commission on dementia delivers unprecedented hope in the fight against dementia, revealing that nearly 45% of dementia cases could theoretically be prevented by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors throughout life. The landmark 2024 update emphasizes that it's never too early or too late to reduce dementia risk through lifestyle interventions.
 
The report identifies two new risk factors – vision loss and high LDL cholesterol – adding to the previously established 12 factors including physical inactivity, smoking, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, hearing loss, depression, social isolation, and air pollution exposure. Significantly, many of these risk factors can be addressed through exercise and healthy lifestyle choices.
 
"This research provides compelling evidence that individuals have substantial power to reduce their dementia risk," said researchers. "The potential for prevention is particularly high in low-income and middle-income countries, where modifiable risk factors are often more prevalent." Exercise emerges as a cornerstone of prevention. The report strongly encourages regular physical activity, noting that people who participate in sport and exercise are significantly less likely to develop dementia. Physical activity not only directly reduces dementia risk but also helps address multiple other risk factors including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and depression.
The Commission recommends specific actions across the life course:
 
Early Life: Ensure quality education and cognitive stimulation
Midlife: Maintain physical and social activity, treat depression, and manage cardiovascular risk factors
Later Life: Continue exercise, address hearing and vision loss, and maintain social connections
 
"Prevention involves both policy changes and individually tailored interventions," the researchers noted. "Risk is clustered in individuals, so interventions should often target multiple components simultaneously." The report emphasizes that prevention approaches should decrease risk factor levels early and maintain them throughout life. Midlife interventions appear particularly important, though benefits exist at any age. Encouragingly, risk reduction is possible regardless of genetic predisposition, including in people with high genetic dementia risk.
Beyond exercise, the Commission highlights other modifiable lifestyle factors: maintaining healthy blood pressure below 130 mmHg from age 40, treating high cholesterol, avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, not smoking, protecting against head injuries, and staying socially connected.
 
"These findings transform our understanding of dementia prevention," researchers concluded. "By addressing these risk factors through healthy lifestyle choices, we can not only reduce dementia risk but also increase healthy years of life and compress the duration of illness for those who do develop dementia." The research reinforces that dementia prevention requires a comprehensive approach combining individual lifestyle modifications with broader policy interventions to create supportive environments for healthy aging.
 
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01296-0/fulltext