LOS ANGELES: Some 30% of dementia cases could be prevented if the patient had a more healthy lifestyle, claims a research report.
In particular, high blood pressure is a major cause of dementia which is affecting an increasing number of people, the paper says, quoting researchers at Rotterdam’s Erasmus teaching hospital.
The researchers followed 10,000 people in Rotterdam over two periods of 10 years. One group of people aged 55 and over were followed from 1990 to 2000 and a second group from 2000 to 2010.
In the first group, 20% went on to develop lifestyle-related dementia, but this rose to 33% in the second group, even though fewer people smoked or had high cholesterol levels in their blood.
Neuro-epidemiologist Arfan Ikram, who led the research project, says high blood pressure appears to be the main cause.