2011 September ; 10(9): 819–828 | Deborah E. Barnes, PhD, MPH; Kristine Yaffe, MD
This review examines the impact of seven potentially modifiable risk factors—diabetes, mid-life hypertension, mid-life obesity, smoking, depression, low educational attainment, and physical inactivity—on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) prevalence. The authors calculate population attributable risks (PARs) to estimate the number of AD cases that could be prevented by reducing these risk factors. They find that these factors contribute to up to half of AD cases globally (17.2 million) and in the US (2.9 million). A 10%–25% reduction in all seven risk factors could potentially prevent as many as 1.1–3.0 million cases worldwide and 184,000–492,000 cases in the US. The review highlights the importance of public health interventions to address these risk factors, particularly for physical inactivity, which is associated with multiple other risk factors. Randomized controlled trials are needed to directly assess the impact of risk factor reduction strategies on AD incidence and prevalence.This review examines the impact of seven potentially modifiable risk factors—diabetes, mid-life hypertension, mid-life obesity, smoking, depression, low educational attainment, and physical inactivity—on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) prevalence. The authors calculate population attributable risks (PARs) to estimate the number of AD cases that could be prevented by reducing these risk factors. They find that these factors contribute to up to half of AD cases globally (17.2 million) and in the US (2.9 million). A 10%–25% reduction in all seven risk factors could potentially prevent as many as 1.1–3.0 million cases worldwide and 184,000–492,000 cases in the US. The review highlights the importance of public health interventions to address these risk factors, particularly for physical inactivity, which is associated with multiple other risk factors. Randomized controlled trials are needed to directly assess the impact of risk factor reduction strategies on AD incidence and prevalence.