More than 100,000 cases of dementia could potentially be prevented in Ireland over a 12 year period if a number of treatable risk factors are tackled, including hearing loss, physical activity and high cholesterol, a new study has suggested.
In research published in the journal BMJ Open on Thursday, researchers at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) identified that over 70 per cent of adults aged 50 or older in Ireland have at least four treatable risk factors for dementia. This represents over half a million people nationwide.
Treatable risk factors for developing dementia include lower educational attainment, hearing loss, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, diabetes, social isolation, excessive alcohol consumption, air pollution, smoking, obesity, traumatic brain injury, depression and visual loss.
The research is based on the The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda), which is a 12-year study involving 8,000 participants.
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The researchers found nearly one in four older adults experienced moderate or severe decline in cognitive performance over the study period.
They said there was “under-treatment” of several dementia risk factors, including hearing loss, with less than one third of older people with hearing loss reporting using hearing aids either some or all of the time.
Treatment and control of key cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol were found to be particularly inadequate.
Lead author Dr Caoimhe McGarvey is a research fellow at Tilda and specialist registrar in geriatric medicine at St James’s Hospital Dublin. She said the findings represent “a powerful opportunity to act on dementia prevention”.
“Many of the risk factors, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, physical inactivity and hearing loss, are modifiable through straightforward, cost-effective interventions,” she said.
“By placing renewed emphasis on brain health throughout the life course and addressing these risks systematically, we have the potential to significantly delay or even prevent the onset of dementia for many individuals.”
Dr Robert Briggs, senior author and consultant geriatrician at St James’s Hospital and Tilda investigator, said many people want to know how they can protect their memory and brain health as they age.
“The positive news is that many of the risk factors we’ve identified including hearing loss, high blood pressure or physical inactivity are treatable. By systematically identifying and addressing these risks we could potentially prevent more than 100,000 cases of dementia,” he added.
Prof Seán Kennelly, director of the Tallaght Institute for Memory and Cognition and clinical associate professor in medical gerontology at TCD , said the study “quantifies the opportunity lost for thousands of people in Ireland in the last decade to optimise their brain health and minimise their risk for developing dementia in later life”.
Regius Prof Rose Anne Kenny, principal investigator of Tilda, said the main highlight from the research is that “dementia is not an inevitable part of ageing”.
