Brain injuries, excessive alcohol consumption and exposure to air pollution can all increase the risk of dementia, according to new research.
Those three actions have been added to a list of risk factors avoidable behaviours that experts believe to be responsible for approximately 40 per cent of all dementia cases.
Given there are 50 million people living with dementia around the world, this suggests that alcohol consumption alone is responsible for approximately 500,000 cases of dementia, with air pollution being the cause of one million and head injuries 1.5 million cases. All of these numbers will likely multiply over the coming decades, the research says, as the worldwide number of dementia cases is expected to hit 152 million by 2050.
Lesser risk factors, in order of significance, include depression, social isolation, physical inactivity, mid-life hypertension, mid-life obesity and diabetes.Nalini Sen, the director of research at the Alzheimer Society of Canada, said she believes the specifics the research offers around blood pressure, alcohol consumption and other health indicators is beneficial.
"When I started in this field in the late 1970s, the notion of … prevention was felt to be unreasonable," he told CTV News. To that end, the experts also offered nine recommendations to help prevent future cases of dementia, some aimed at governments and others at individuals.
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