Risk of young-onset dementia could be cut by targeting health, lifestyle: Study

New Delhi: Researchers have identified a wide range of risk factors for young-onset dementia, challenging the notion that genes are the sole cause of the condition while laying the groundwork for new prevention strategies.

The large-scale study, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, identified 15 risk factors, which are similar to those for late-onset dementia. For the first time, the researchers indicate that it may be possible to reduce the risk of young-onset dementia, which occurs when a person develops the disorder affecting their memory, thinking, and social abilities before the age of 65, by targeting health and lifestyle factors.

Relatively little research has been done on young-onset dementia, though globally there are around 3.7 lakh new cases of young-onset dementia each year.

The researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK and Maastricht University, Netherlands, followed over 3.5 lakh participants younger than 65 from the UK Biobank study, a large-scale biomedical database containing de-identified genetic, lifestyle, and health information and biological samples from half a million participants.

The team evaluated a broad array of risk factors ranging from genetic predispositions to lifestyle and environmental influences. The study showed that lower formal education, lower socioeconomic status, genetic variation, lifestyle factors such as alcohol use disorder and social isolation, and health issues including vitamin D deficiency, depression, stroke, hearing impairment, and heart disease significantly elevate the risk of young-onset dementia.

This is the largest and most robust study of its kind ever conducted. Excitingly, for the first time it reveals that we may be able to take action to reduce risk of this debilitating condition, through targeting a range of different factors, said Professor David Llewellyn of the University of Exeter.

Stevie Hendriks, a researcher at Maastricht University, said young-onset dementia has a very serious impact because the people affected usually still have a job, children, and a busy life. The cause is often assumed to be genetic, but for many people, we don’t actually know exactly what the cause is. This is why we also wanted to investigate other risk factors in this study, Hendriks said.

Sebastian Kohler, Professor of Neuroepidemiology at Maastricht University, noted that it is already known from research on people who develop dementia at older age that there are a series of modifiable risk factors.

In addition to physical factors, mental health also plays an important role, including avoiding chronic stress, loneliness, and depression. The fact that this is also evident in young-onset dementia came as a surprise to me, and it may offer opportunities to reduce risk in this group too, Kohler added.

The research breaks new ground in identifying that the risk of young-onset dementia can be reduced, said Janice Ranson, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. We think this could herald a new era in interventions to reduce new cases of this condition, Ranson added.