Photo credit: Min An
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
A recent report on the Medscape website is headlined: “Almost 50% of Global Dementia Cases May Be Preventable.” Reporter Megan Brooks ably summarizes the latest report from the U.K.’s Lancet Commission* on dementia prevention, intervention and care. It was released in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Association International Convention 2024.
Lead author Dr. Gill Livingston stated, “There is much more that can and should be done to reduce the risk of dementia.” There are now 12 factors identified as contributing to the development of dementia: lower levels of education, hearing loss, hypertension, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, air pollution and social isolation. I’m not an expert in this area, but I am concerned that some of these factors are not independent variables but may instead be linked. For example, lower levels of education are correlated with obesity and smoking, and probably with exposure to air and noise pollution as well.
Regardless, the important thing about the Commission’s work since its first report in 2017 was the recognition that dementia isn’t part of normal physiological aging. Instead, it has specific modifiable causes that can be addressed by government intervention and public health education. Governments can increase cigarette and alcohol taxes to decrease consumption, introduce better food labels and implement soda taxes to reduce obesity and make cities more walkable.
I wish experts would also recognize that hearing loss in old age, commonly called age-related hearing loss or presbycusis, is another condition that is not inevitable. Although there are many causes of hearing loss — ear and brain infections in childhood, head trauma, ototoxic medications and gene variants leading to hearing loss over time are among them — scientific literature has revealed that the major cause of hearing loss over time is cumulative exposure to noise. And of course, as noted by The Lancet, hearing loss is one preventable factor that contributes to dementia.
A quieter world will help prevent both hearing loss and dementia.
*The Lancet report is available free of charge but one must register online.
