Can dementia be prevented?

Cognitive decline and dementia pose a substantial threat to individuals and to public health, and their burden is expected to increase worldwide.1 Because effective treatments are sparse, preventive strategies are needed to delay the onset of dementia or reduce its incidence. However, before such strategies can be implemented, we need to identify which factors should be targeted and in whom.

In the linked cohort study (doi:10.1136/bmj.c3885), Ritchie and colleagues aim to identify factors related to the development of new cases of dementia and evaluate the impact of the theoretical elimination of such factors in elderly people from France.2 Potential factors for the prevention of dementia were identified by a literature search of population and clinical studies and were broadly divided into sociodemographic, clinical, and environment or lifestyle factors.

The study enrolled 1433 community dwelling people who lived in the city of Montpellier, France, and who were aged 65 or older at baseline between 1999 and 2001. These people were followed for the development of mild cognitive impairment or dementia for an average of …