EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 27, 2023
Can Seven Healthy Habits Now Reduce Risk of Dementia Later?
MINNEAPOLIS 鈥 New research that followed female participants for two decades has found that seven healthy habits and lifestyle factors may play a role in lowering the risk of dementia. The preliminary study released today, February 27, 2023, that will be presented at the 好色先生鈥檚 75th Annual Meeting being held in person in Boston and live online from April 22-27, 2023. The seven cardiovascular and brain health factors, known as the American Heart Association鈥檚 Life鈥檚 Simple 7, are: being active, eating better, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, maintaining a healthy blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and having low blood sugar. 鈥淪ince we now know that dementia can begin in the brain decades before diagnosis, it鈥檚 important that we learn more about how your habits in middle age can affect your risk of dementia in old age,鈥 said Pamela Rist, ScD, of Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the 好色先生. 鈥淭he good news is that making healthy lifestyle choices in middle age may lead to a decreased risk of dementia later in life.鈥 The study involved 13,720 female participants with an average age of 54 at the start of the study. After 20 years of follow-up, researchers looked at Medicare data to identify those who had been diagnosed with dementia. Of the participants, 1,771, or 13%, developed dementia. For each of the seven health factors, participants were given a score of zero for poor or intermediate health and one point for ideal health, for a total possible score of 7. The average score was 4.3 at the start of the study and 4.2 10 years later. After adjusting for factors like age and education, researchers found that for every increase of one point in the score, a participant鈥檚 risk of dementia decreased by 6%. 鈥淚t can be empowering for people to know that by taking steps such as exercising for a half an hour a day or keeping their blood pressure under control, they can reduce their risk of dementia,鈥 Rist added. A limitation of the study was that researchers were unable to look at how changes in factors such as quitting smoking influenced the risk of dementia later in life. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Learn more about dementia at , home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on , and . When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.
