Back in January, we profiled a recent study that predicted that by 2060, the number of yearly dementia diagnoses in the US was likely to double to over one million. These are scary numbers, especially if dementia runs in your family or you’ve personally witnessed the downfall of someone diagnosed with dementia. Increases in the number of people diagnosed with dementia are not surprising, given the demographic explosion of the baby boomer population and given that people are living longer, outlasting diseases that would have previously killed them (such as heart disease or cancer). While dementia diagnoses run about 4% among adults aged 75, once you reach age 85, that number rises to 20% of the population and goes up each year after that. Yet, at the same time, we are making significant progress in understanding and lowering the risk of dementia by paying attention to some fundamental factors such as smoking, a healthy diet, physical activity, and higher rates of education. As we’ve previously said, a dementia diagnosis is not a foregone conclusion. A range of risk factors can be addressed to significantly lower your risk if you implement the necessary lifestyle changes.

In fact, given the progress that has been made to lower the risk of dementia in recent years, many researchers suggest that earlier predictions of a doubling of dementia diagnoses are not supported by new evidence. A recent commentary in JAMA Network suggests that with every successive birth cohort, the number of dementia diagnoses is declining, and if current trends continue, the rise in dementia cases is likely to be much smaller than previously predicted, potentially just a 25% increase or even a 10% increase if we take the most optimistic case. That’s still a burden on society and a tragedy for individuals and families, but perhaps not the catastrophic picture that was earlier predicted. Of course, there are no guarantees, and future trends will depend upon our public health efforts to treat problems like high blood pressure or cholesterol and make sure older adults have access to early and preventive care (something in potential jeopardy given current efforts to slash health care spending in programs like Medicaid). But the outlook could be much more positive than was projected early this year, and it underscores the real progress that can be made in lowering dementia risks if we commit to the lifestyle changes and preventive care that can bring about substantial reductions in risk. To read more about this potential positive outlook, read here.

Perhaps underscoring this more hopeful future is another recent study that finds an association between cardiovascular health and dementia risk. This study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at the connection between better heart health and fewer signs of brain degeneration. Researchers looked at the data from over 5400 participants in the Chicago Health and Aging Project, with a mean age of 73.1 years. Each participant was rated according to the Life’s Simple 7 tool developed by the American Heart Association, which categorizes 7 factors that contribute to heart health, including diet, physical activity, diabetes, smoking, blood pressure, and cholesterol control. In this study, those with higher Simple 7 scores (meaning better heart health) had lower risks of developing neurodegenerative diseases. That’s not surprising given that heart health and dementia share common risk factors. So when you commit to a healthier heart lifestyle, you may also lower your risk of dementia in the process- two for the price of one! Find out more by looking here.