‘Air pollution, head injury might cause Dementia’

Report suggests modifying risk factors at the population level can potentially prevent up to 40% of dementia

LAHORE:

Air pollution, head injury and alcohol consumption have been identified as three new dementia risk factors besides nine already established risk factors i.e. less education, hypertension, hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, infrequent social contact.

The new risk factors have been identified in the ‘Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission’ that was launched during a live session of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2020).

The report suggests that modifying these risk factors at the population level can potentially prevent or delay up to 40% of dementia.

Interestingly, it says, the potential for prevention is high and might be higher in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) where the prevalence of dementia is higher, and where access to information and education around dementia risks is often more limited.

At the live report launch session, the report’s lead author, University College London Professor Gill Livingston speaking from London, said,

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2020.