The World Alzheimer Report 2014, ‘Dementia and risk reduction: An analysis of protective and modifiable factors’, critically examines the evidence for the existence of modifiable risk factors for dementia.
It focuses on sets of potential modifiable risk factors in four key domains: developmental, psychological and psychosocial, lifestyle and cardiovascular conditions. The report makes recommendations to drive public health campaigns and disease prevention strategies.
Some of the key findings from the report include:
- Brain health promotion messages should be integrated in public health promotion campaigns with the message that it’s never too late to make changes
- Research should test hypotheses on lifestyle and control of risk in randomised controlled trials when feasible, and explore other sources of evidence when it is not
- There is considerable potential for reduction in dementia incidence associated with global improvements in access to secondary and tertiary education