Obesity is the most common risk factor for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Cardiovascular pathologies, repeated anesthesia or repeated cranial microtraumas in athletes are other risk factors.
- 15% of people over 80 are affected by this disease.
- In total, more than 900,000 people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease in France.
The causes of Alzheimer’s disease are still uncertain: scientists rather speak of risk factors. These are elements that can increase the probability of developing the pathology in the long term. The most important thing is age: as we recall Inserm, the incidence of the disease is low before the age of 65 and explodes after the age of 80. American researchers are interested in modifiable risk factors, those on which it is possible to act in order to increase the chances of escaping the disease. In JAMA neurologythey present the conclusions of their study.
Three main risk factors
The authors looked at the medical data of more than 378,000 people aged 18 and over. They were interested in their physical activity, their mental health, their level of education, their weight, their relationship to cigarettes, etc. According to their findings, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are associated with eight modifiable risk factors. The three most important are obesity in middle life, so around forty, physical inactivity and a low level of education. All of these risk factors were more common in men than in women.
Obesity on the rise around the world
Regarding obesity, it affected 17.7% of people with Alzheimer’s in the study. However, according to the World Health Organization, the number of obese people has almost tripled since 1975, and the pandemic has not helped: in a communicated on the prevalence of obesity in Europe, the WHO explains that the epidemic months have “resulted in increased exposure to certain risk factors that influence the likelihood of a person being obese or overweight”. Among them is the lack of physical activity during periods of confinement. But in general, a sedentary lifestyle is on the rise in the population. According to Ministry of Health, 95% of the adult French population is exposed to a risk of health deterioration due to a lack of physical activity or because of sitting for too long. Spending more than eight hours a day in a seated position increases the risk of health problems.
How to limit the risks?
“Strategies to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s would surely be more effective if they targeted people at high risk and if they took into account the profile according to the risk factors“, conclude the authors of this research. According to the Alzheimer Research Foundation, 40% of cases could be avoided by taking into account the risk factors. It is therefore recommended to monitor your heart health, maintain regular physical activity, stimulate your brain through games or by reading, eat healthy and sleep well, at least seven hours a night.
