One in three cases of Alzheimer's disease are preventable, a new research shows.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge explain that the main risk factors are lack of education, physical inactivity and depression and genetic factors.
According to the current estimation, more than 106 million people are expected to develop Alzheimer's disease by 2050. A massive increase from the 30 million people affected by the disease in 2010.
All the factors responsible for the disease can be targeted to reduce the risk.
The researchers estimate that by reducing the relative risk by 10 percent from each of these factors, it will be possible to reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer's in 2050 by 8.5 percent, preventing 9 million cases
Researchers said that the seven key risk factors for which there is consistent evidence of association with the Alzheimer's' disease are diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking and low educational attainment.
"It's important that we have as accurate an estimate of the projected prevalence of Alzheimer's as possible, as well as accurate estimates of the potential impact of lifestyle changes at a societal level. Alzheimer's disease is placing an ever increasing burden on health services worldwide as well as on both patients and their carers. Our hope is that these estimates will help public health professionals and health policy makers design effective strategies to prevent and manage this disease," Dr Deborah Barnes from the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA Medical Center, who led a 2011 study on Alzheimer's and is a co-author on this new study.
She further stated that although there is no single way to prevent dementia there are steps that can be taken to reduce risk of developing dementia in older age. "We know what many of these factors are, and that they are often linked. Simply tackling physical inactivity, for example, will reduce levels of obesity, hypertension and diabetes, and prevent some people from developing dementia as well as allowing a healthier old age in general - it's a win-win situation," she said.
The study was published in The Lancelot Neurology.
