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The risk of dementia may be influenced long before symptoms appear. New research suggests that avoiding three key midlife risks could help extend the number of years people live without dementia. Those free of all three risk factors experienced roughly 13 additional dementia-free years compared with people affected by all three.
The three key risk factors to address during midlife are high blood pressure, smoking, and type 2 diabetes. The study found that people who had normal blood pressure, no diabetes, and did not smoke from ages 48 to 68 were estimated to gain extra years without dementia. Women had more dementia-free years than men across all levels of risk, while White participants also experienced more dementia-free years than Black participants.
More than 12,000 adults in their 50s were included in the analysis, all of whom were dementia-free when they entered the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. The decades-long study collects information on factors that influence heart disease and stroke. Researchers assessed participants for high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking and followed their health for an average of 26 years.
During the follow-up period, 3,008 people developed dementia and another 5,238 died without developing the condition. Researchers used several methods to track dementia, including cognitive tests, phone interviews, hospital records, and death records. Every suspected case was reviewed and confirmed by an expert panel.
The results should not be interpreted to mean that people with these risk factors are destined to develop dementia. Age remains one of the strongest influences on dementia risk, and people who live into their eighties have a greater chance of developing it than those in their seventies. At the same time, healthier people tend to live longer and have lower dementia risk. That is why the researchers focused on dementia-free years of life, rather than simply whether someone developed dementia.
To view the original scientific study click below:
Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
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