Study reveals three midlife health habits linked to earlier dementia

By Stephen Beech

Avoiding three key health issues during middle age leads to 13 more years without dementia, according to new research.

Having normal blood pressure, no diabetes and not smoking from age 45 to 65, are associated with an average of nearly 13 additional years of dementia-free life, say scientists.

The American study also found that, no matter how many risk factors they had, women lived longer without dementia than men.

And white study participants had more dementia-free years than Black participants, according to the study published in the journal Neurology Open Access,.

Researchers say their findings underline the dual impact of the identified midlife risk factors, the presence of which was linked to both accelerated dementia onset and shortened overall dementia-free lifespans.

Study senior investigator Dr. Josef Coresh said: "Our findings argue that people need to actively avert these factors in midlife as a strategy for preserving brain health for more than a decade.

"Discovering new ways to delay dementia is crucial with 42% of Americans at risk for developing the condition at any time after age 55."

Researchers analyzed data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, which started in 1986 and followed participants over decades into later life, measuring midlife vascular risk factors and dementia.

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They looked at data from 12,409 people with an average age of 56 who were dementia free at the outset.

Participants were assessed for three risk factors — high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking — before being followed for an average of 26 years.

During that time, 3,008 developed dementia and 5,238 people died without developing dementia.

Those who had no risk factors lived without developing dementia nearly 13 years longer than people with the three risk factors.

The researchers also sought to determine how cardiovascular risk factors in midlife influenced dementia-free survival across demographics.

Women with all three risk factors lived an average of 18.1 years from the start of tracking without developing dementia, compared to 16.6 years for male study participants.

White participants with all three risk factors lived an average of 19.6 years without developing dementia, compared to 16 years for Black participants.

Dr. Coresh, founding director of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU Langone Health, said: "These results suggest that vascular risk reduction may benefit all groups, but that certain populations, such as Black adults, may especially benefit from targeted prevention efforts."

He added: "Hopefully, these results will encourage people to stop smoking and watch their vascular health closely from age 45 on."