If you maintain a healthy lifestyle like exercising regularly and eating a nutritious diet then you are at lower risk of dementia even if you are associated with genetic risk.
This is according to a first-of-its-kind study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) on 15th of June 2019.
Researchers at the UK were curious whether a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of dementia regardless of genetic risk.
Let us try to understand how the research was carried out and what was its result
Research methodology
There was a total of 196 383 number of participants in the research with a minimum age of 60 years and who did not have cognitive impairment or dementia. They were all participants of UK Biobank study.
The UK Biobank is a population-based cohort of more than 500 000 participants who attended 1 of 22 assessment centers across the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2010.
Based on the data of UK Biobank study, researchers carried out a retrospective cohort study on all the 196 383 participants. They sorted participants based on multiple genetic risk factors for dementia
- Low risk,
- Intermediate risk and
- High risk.
Based on self-reported data of physical activity levels, tobacco use, alcohol use and diet they were assigned a healthy lifestyle score,
- Favorable,
- Intermediate and
- Unfavorable.
Also read: Commonly prescribed medicine carries risk of dementia
Result
Among older adults without cognitive impairment or dementia, both an unfavorable lifestyle and high genetic risk were significantly associated with higher dementia risk.
A favorable lifestyle was associated with lower dementia risk among participants with high genetic risk.
Resource:
- Association of Lifestyle and Genetic Risk With Incidence of Dementia: Published on JAMA, July 14, 2019: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2738355
Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.
