Risks posed to heart health may increase future dementia cases, more than smoking, finds a new study on Thursday.A combination of genetic and environmental factors, including high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, education, and smoking are major risk factors for dementia.
Researchers from the University College London (UCL) explored how the prevalence of these risk factors changed over time.
The team analysed 27 papers, involving people with dementia globally with data collected between 1947 and 2015, and the latest paper published in 2020.
The results, published in The Lancet Public Health, showed that having less education and smoking had become less common over time and was associated with a decline in rates of dementia.