If you’ve seen a relative or friend disappear with dementia, then you’ll know it’s ironically, not something you ever forget.
Dementia is common, in part because we’re living longer. It is estimated that roughly 1 million people are living with dementia in the UK at the moment, and that number is predicted to rise by 40% by 2040. Roughly 20% of those aged over 85 have a diagnosis of dementia - that’s one in five.
Alzheimer’s and Vascular represent the most common types of dementia, and although they have different end-point pathophysiology, they share many of the same risk factors.
In medicine, we tend to split risk factors into two groups - those we can change (modifiable) and those we can’t change (non-modifiable).
Non-modifiable risk factors include things like age, family history and genetics. This is the hand you’re dealt. Question is… how well can you play the game?
Modifiable risk factors are those you can take steps to influence. How you live your life, what you eat, how active you are, whether you smoke, your social interactions, how you use your brain all have an impact on your overall risk when it comes to dementia in later life.
The Lancet published a Dementia Commission in 2024 that broke down modifiable risk factors by life stage. Some are relevant in early life (education), some later in life (sight loss, air pollution, social isolation), and some - the majority, can have the greatest impact when you pay close attention to them in midlife.
Now is your time to take action!
Why dementia risk should matter to all of us
What the evidence says about dementia risk and how risk factors stack up
Modifiable risk factors that you can do something about today
The top five midlife risk factors with the biggest impact
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