Research part-funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and published in The Lancet journal by researchers who are part of The Lancet Commission has found that there are two new dementia risk factors that people need to be aware of.
One of which is low-density lipoprotein/bad cholesterol. This can lead to the hardening of the blood vessels in the heart and brain, and a researcher for the study stated that high blood pressure and uncontrolled diabetes also affect the blood vessels.
This can make it more difficult for oxygen to get to the brain, which over time can lead to neuron damage — “and dementia is essentially an end product of the neurons dying out, so it’s a neurodegenerative process,” the researcher explained.
However, another factor is something that many of us have been putting off treating.
Untreated vision loss can lead to dementia
According to the sight experts at Vision Matters, 4.7 million NHS sight tests have been lost since the pandemic disrupted people’s healthcare routines and one in five have postponed or cancelled a sight test in the past year due to cost concerns.
However, the new research suggests that untreated vision loss can be a contributing factor to developing dementia.
Speaking on the report, Dr. Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, a behavioural neurologist and neuropsychiatrist at Yale Medicine in Connecticut said: “There are many sources of vision loss, of course, but it tends to be a lot more common in folks who have metabolic risk factors such as high blood pressure, such as poorly controlled diabetes, such as high cholesterol, which is the other risk factor [identified in the report].”
Additionally, Alzheimer’s Society highlighted that these issues need to be addressed not just on a personal but societal level.
Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society said:
“Some dementia risk factors, such as alcohol consumption and physical exercise, can be managed by changing your lifestyle, but many must be addressed on a societal level. Social isolation, education inequalities and air pollution are beyond individuals’ control and require public health interventions and joint action between Government and industry.
“If we can support people to reduce their dementia risk and address the societal change needed, this could mean potentially hundreds of thousands fewer people in the UK will go on to develop dementia.”