2024-09-03 11:01:31
A study has identified 15 risk factors associated with the early onset of these disorders
Dementia, in its various forms, is a disorder that we associate with advanced age. However, there are many cases in which diseases such as Alzheimer’s develop before reaching old age. We are then talking about early-onset dementia, a health problem about which we still know very little.
Defying convention. A recent study focusing on early-onset dementia has found 15 risk factors associated with the onset of these disorders. According to the authors of the research, their results challenge the notion that genetic factors are the main determinants of early-onset dementia.
These fifteen factors cover a range of issues, from suffering from other diseases to habits such as alcohol consumption. The authors of the research point out that these factors are not very different from those we associate with the onset of dementia at more advanced ages.
The team responsible for the study carried out their work based on data collected from more than 356,000 British people under 65 years of age who participated in the study. UK BiobankThe details of the study were published in an article in the journal JAMA Neurology.
15 factors. And what are these 15 factors? According to the authors of the paper, their list includes socioeconomic factors, such as poverty or social isolation, which are positively correlated with the disease, while a high level of education shows an inverse relationship.
Several factors are linked to other diseases, such as diabetes, stroke or heart disease. Some nutrient deficiencies have also been identified as risk factors, such as vitamin D deficiency, as well as high levels of C-reactive proteins, proteins associated with inflammatory processes. Physical frailty is also among these risk factors.
It is worth noting that genetic factors are not excluded from this list. The study observed a greater predisposition among those who carried certain variants of the ApoE4 ε4 gene, a gene already linked to this disease in previous studies.
A “complex” relationship with alcohol. Alcohol consumption is also on this list of risk factors, but as those responsible for the study point out, the relationship is somewhat more complex, since it is not linear: both excessive alcohol consumption and abstinence are counted as risk factors.
The reason is not that moderate alcohol consumption is good for preventing dementia, but more likely the correlation of abstinence with other problems linked to the onset of these diseases. In other words, people with health problems are more likely to give up alcohol.
Mental health. The team also points out the importance of factors related to mental health. In addition to the aforementioned social isolation, depression and stress are also mentioned by the researchers.
“In addition to physical factors, mental health also plays an important role, including avoiding chronic stress, loneliness and depression. The fact that this is also evident in early-onset dementia was a surprise to me,” explains Sebastian Köhler, one of the authors of the study.
A disease still shrouded in mystery. The authors of the paper explain that the results do not imply that we have a list of causes of dementia, simply risk factors, variables that appear to be correlated with the early onset of this disorder without us knowing exactly how the causal relationships work.
However, this list of factors can be very useful when it comes to preventing the onset of the disease and treating its symptoms.
Perhaps, one day, they will help us better understand diseases that are still shrouded in mystery, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Diseases that even today we do not know how they appear or whether they can be cured. Delaying the appearance of their symptoms is, today, the best strategy to combat them.