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Dementia risk linked to lifestyle

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From Times wire reports

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have identified risk predictors in middle age that could help identify people more likely to suffer dementia in later life. They include education, raised blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, obesity and lack of exercise, which are similar to risk factors for heart disease and strokes.

“The key point for all these factors is lifestyle changes,” Miia Kivipelto, the lead researcher, said in an interview.

Kivipelto and her team analyzed data from a study of 1,409 people who were assessed for signs of dementia in midlife -- about 50 years old -- and 20 years later. They studied several factors to develop their predictor.

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The 4% of people in the study who developed dementia had the highest risk score for the six risk predictors 20 years earlier, according to the study published in The Lancet medical journal.

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