{"id":416307,"date":"2026-05-07T13:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416307\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:38:08","slug":"study-finds-falls-after-age-of-40-could-increase-future-dementia-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/416307\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds falls after age of 40 could increase future dementia risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

A single fall after the age of 40 could increase one\u2019s future dementia risk<\/a> by over 20 per cent, reveals a new review of studies conducted in China.<\/p>\n

For people experiencing multiple falls<\/a> after this age, their future risk could increase up to 74 per cent, say scientists from the Changchun University of Chinese Medicine.<\/p>\n

“Recurrent falls may serve as a potential clinical marker<\/a> for identifying individuals at higher risk,” researchers wrote in the study published in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.<\/p>\n

Dementia<\/a> and falls both affect elderly populations and are commonly associated with ageing, with many studies probing the link between the two.<\/p>\n

Studies show there could be common neurological issues linked to both falls and dementia, indicating that falls could be an early symptom of cognitive decline.<\/p>\n

Older adults with dementia also experience more frequent falls, but it is unclear whether falls notably precede dementia.<\/p>\n

“This study provides the first quantitative evidence, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis, demonstrating an association between a history of falls in middle-aged and older adults and the subsequent risk of dementia,” scientists wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/p>\n

Senior citizen wraps up warm to do her shopping (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In the review research, scientists assessed seven studies, including case reports of nearly three million participants aged 40 or older, who were without dementia at baseline.<\/p>\n

Among nearly 1.25 million middle-aged and older adults in the pooled analysis who had a history of falls future dementia incidence was over 11 per cent.<\/p>\n

The dementia incidence was higher at 12.3 per cent among adults aged 60 years or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth single falls and multiple falls increased the risk of future all-cause dementia, and multiple falls were a more robust predictor of future dementia,\u201d scientists wrote.<\/p>\n

A separate analysis of three of the seven studies showed that a single fall was linked to a 20 per cent higher risk of future dementia, while multiple falls were associated with a 74 per cent higher risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results indicate that the frequency of falls exhibits a dose-response relationship with dementia risk,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

The findings, according to researchers, show that falls are \u201cnot merely coincidental but serve as an early clinical marker of accelerating neurodegenerative decline\u201d.<\/p>\n

Scientists suspect three possible mechanisms could be behind this link.<\/p>\n

One is that since falls cause injuries, they could directly lead to dementia by driving or speeding up cognitive decline.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, researchers suspect neurodegeneration could be already underway long before a formal dementia diagnosis, which also contributes to falls.<\/p>\n

This aligns with the observation that falling more often could lead to more advanced dementia.<\/p>\n

Researchers also suspect a vicious cycle could be at play.<\/p>\n

A middle-aged person experiencing a single fall could develop a fear of further falls and reduce physical and social activities, both of which are protective against dementia.<\/p>\n

In any case, scientists call for clinicians to maintain heightened vigilance for cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults with a history of recurrent falls so that dementia is detected early.<\/p>\n

They hope future studies can further clarify this association and support preventive strategies in ageing populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A single fall after the age of 40 could increase one\u2019s future dementia risk by over 20 per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3137,799,15248,214022,214023,134,111,139,69,19693],"class_list":["post-416307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cognitive-decline","tag-dementia","tag-falls","tag-future-risk","tag-future-studies","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-older-adults"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}