Dementia is 1 of the 5 major global causes of death.(1) In 2015/2016, an estimated 43-47 million people were living with dementia disease, expected to increase to over 100 million by 2050.(1) The largest increase is anticipated in low- and middle-income countries.(1) To give policy makers a tool to delay the onset of dementia, it is pertinent to map the contributing risk factors nationally. Studies report up to 35% of dementia burden to be due to known, potentially modifiable risk factors: hearing loss, low education, midlife hypertension, smoking, depression, physical inactivity, social isolation, diabetes, and midlife obesity.(2) A report from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 Dementia Collaborators(1) attempts to provide such a tool for further research and national public health decisions. However, the authors state that their data are tainted by several major limitations relating to considerable heterogeneity in diagnostic procedures, inconsistencies in registration of dementia as cause of death, and assumption of transferability of findings between countries with different health care systems.     «

Dementia is 1 of the 5 major global causes of death.(1) In 2015/2016, an estimated 43-47 million people were living with dementia disease, expected to increase to over 100 million by 2050.(1) The largest increase is anticipated in low- and middle-income countries.(1) To give policy makers a tool to delay the onset of dementia, it is pertinent to map the contributing risk factors nationally. Studies report up to 35% of dementia burden to be due to known, potentially modifiable risk factors: heari...     »