A person's age, marital status, low weight and lack of sleep could potentially increase the risks of dementia, according to a new study from the Boston University School of Medicine.
Experts identified these four factors using data collected from 1979 to 1983 for the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) in the hopes of learning more about the disease's risks in advanced age. They compared records of patients who have been diagnosed with dementia and found some similarities. The patients were at least in their 50s, widowed, had lower body mass index (BMI) and struggled with sleep.
Their findings could prove helpful since dementia, a condition that affects older people's physical abilities and cognition, has no known effective cure. "By focusing on modifiable risk factors, we are hoping to identify disease risk factors that are amenable to change, enabling the possibility of preventing dementia," study co-author Rhoda Au said in the press release.
Au further said that current screening tools for dementia usually need specialized training or advanced testing. With their findings, however, both physicians and non-physicians, such as the patient's primary carers or family members, could easily be aware of the risks and could help initiate some non-invasive lifestyle changes.
The Boston study supports other global researches previously conducted on dementia. Swedish experts, for instance, determined in a study that adults, who have either lost a spouse or live as a single person in old age, could develop increased risk for dementia.
The Yale School of Public Health also published a study that showed people who have a more positive attitude towards aging mitigated their risks of developing dementia.
Another study done in 2017 and published in the Neurology journal discovered that middle aged people who suffer from sleep disorders or take over 90 minutes to enter REM, the deepest state of sleep, were at higher risk of dementia as well.
