Medicalfacts Editorial / Janine Budding January 7, 2024 – 7:21 PM
BWith dementia at a young age, people often think of a genetic cause. Scientists from Maastricht University (UM) and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom have now identified 15 risk factors that are associated with a greater risk of dementia at a young age. People can influence some of these risk factors themselves. In addition to a person’s socio-economic status or known lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption and smoking, the scientists also discovered a strikingly strong link with mental health: depression and social isolation in particular – for example as a result of hearing damage – appear to be good predictors of an increased risk of being unable to achieve develop dementia by the age of 65. The findings were recently published in the scientific journal JAMA Neurology.
Dementia at a young age
The disease dementia is receiving increasing attention, but relatively little research has been done into dementia at a young age. Dementia at a young age occurs when people develop dementia before the age of 65. In the Netherlands, this fate affects approximately 15,000 people and 1,000 to 1,500 cases are added every year, according to previous research by the same scientists. Early recognition and the right help and support can improve the quality of life of people with dementia at a young age. That was also the main reason for UM researcher Stevie Hendriks and her colleagues from the Alzheimer Center Limburg to look for risk factors that may be related to dementia at a young age. “The impact of dementia at a young age is very great, because these people usually still have a job, children and a busy life,” says Hendriks. “It is often thought that the cause of dementia at a young age is genetic, but for many people we do not actually know exactly what the cause is. That is why we also wanted to investigate other risk factors in this study.”
Risk factors
For their research, the Maastricht scientists used data from a long-term so-called cohort study from the United Kingdom, the UK Biobank. They analyzed data from more than 350,000 individuals, who were closely monitored by British researchers between 2006 and 2021. This data revealed 15 risk factors that, to a greater or lesser extent, appear to be predictors of a greater risk of dementia at a young age. “We already knew from research into people with dementia at an older age that there are a series of modifiable risk factors,” says Sebastian Köhler, professor of Neuroepidemiology at Maastricht University. “They now pay a lot of attention to prevention in the Netherlands, for example within the National Dementia Strategy of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. In addition to physical factors, mental health also plays an important role in the prevention of dementia, such as avoiding chronic stress, loneliness and depression. The fact that we now see this so strongly in dementia at a young age was unexpected for me and may give us scope to reduce the risk in this group as well.”
Source: Maastricht University
Editorial Medicalfacts / Janine Budding
I studied physiotherapy and health care business administration. I am also a registered independent client supporter and informal care broker. I have a lot of experience in various positions in healthcare, the social domain and the medical and pharmaceutical industries, nationally and internationally. And I have broad medical knowledge of most specialties in healthcare. And the healthcare laws from which healthcare is regulated and financed. I attend most of the leading medical conferences in Europe and America every year to keep my knowledge up to date and to keep up with the latest developments and innovations. I am currently doing a Masters in applied psychology.
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2024-01-07 18:59:54
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