Personal preventative measures alone will not decrease the risk of dementia, researchers have found.<\/p>\n
Until now there has been a focus on personal choices such as eating, exercise, social activity and mental health to prevent Australia’s leading cause of death.<\/p>\n
But a Dementia Australia-funded research paper from Curtin University has found that such efforts may have led to the social, environmental and policy influences that shape brain health being overlooked.<\/p>\n
In 2024, a landmark study identified 14 potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, physical inactivity, smoking and hearing loss.<\/p>\n
It found many must be tackled in midlife and could potentially prevent 45 per cent of dementia cases.<\/p>\n
In the new paper published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet<\/a>, researchers mapped 61 risk factors ranging from lifestyle to socio-economic status.<\/p>\n Of those, 49 (80 per cent) were at the individual level. Far fewer related to the interpersonal or societal levels.<\/p>\n The researchers found far less attention was paid to education, housing, neighbourhood safety, healthcare access, clean air and social connections, “despite growing evidence these factors affect people\u2019s ability to protect their brain health”.<\/p>\n “For example, we tell people they need to be physically active, but being physically active can depend on having a safe environment and access to places that are safe to exercise in and affordable,” study author Jennifer Dunne said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[The 14 factors] are obviously important for a range of reasons, but our study shows that many of the factors that shape dementia risk do not sit solely within an individual\u2019s control.”<\/p>\n