What influences the risk of dementia more than genetics?

The presence of several diseases affecting the heart is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia than high genetic risk, the new large-scale study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity informs.

The study, led by the University of Oxford and the University of Exeter, is one of the largest ever studies of the link between multiple heart conditions and dementia, and one of the few looking at the complex problem of multiple diseases.

The study looked at data from more than 200,000 people aged 60 and older. Researchers identified those who had been diagnosed with cardiometabolic diabetes, stroke, heart attack or any combination of the three diseases, as well as those who subsequently developed dementia.

The researchers found that the more a person had these three diseases, the higher the risk of developing dementia. People who had all three diseases had three times the risk of developing dementia as people with high genetic risk.

Researchers divided study participants into three genetic risk categories, from high to low, based on a comprehensive risk score reflecting the many genetic risk traits common to people of European descent. They also had brain imaging data from more than 12,000 participants, and they found widespread damage throughout the brain in those who had more than one cardiometabolic disease. In contrast, high genetic risk was associated with impairment only in certain parts of the brain.

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