Seven Healthy Habits May Reduce Dementia Risk Even for Those With High Genetic Risk
Summary: New research reports that adopting seven simple cardiovascular and brain-healthy habits can lower the chance of developing dementia — even for older adults with the highest genetic risk. The study tracked lifestyle, genetic risk, and dementia outcomes over 30 years.
Source: AAN
The study, published in Neurology, examined how adherence to the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 relates to dementia risk across different levels of genetic susceptibility. Life’s Simple 7 is a set of modifiable cardiovascular and brain-health factors: regular physical activity, a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, keeping blood pressure in a healthy range, managing cholesterol, and controlling blood sugar.
Study design and participants
Researchers followed 11,561 participants for 30 years. Of these, 8,823 were of European ancestry and 2,738 were of African ancestry. At the start of the study the average participant age was 54. Participants self-reported information needed to score each of the seven health factors; the combined lifestyle score ranged from 0 (least healthy) to 14 (most healthy). The average scores were 8.3 for those with European ancestry and 6.6 for those with African ancestry.
Genetic risk was estimated at baseline using genome‑wide statistics for Alzheimer’s disease. Participants were grouped by genetic risk: those with the highest risk generally included individuals carrying at least one copy of the APOE e4 variant, a well-established genetic variant associated with increased Alzheimer’s risk; those with the lowest risk were more likely to carry the APOE e2 variant, which has been associated with a reduced risk of dementia.
Key findings
Over the course of follow-up, 1,603 people of European ancestry and 631 people of African ancestry developed dementia. The research team examined whether higher lifestyle scores were associated with lower dementia risk within different genetic risk groups.
Among participants of European ancestry, higher scores on Life’s Simple 7 were consistently linked to lower dementia risk across all five genetic risk categories, including the highest genetic risk group. Each one-point increase in the lifestyle score was associated with a 9% lower risk of developing dementia. Compared with the low lifestyle score category, the intermediate and high score categories were associated with approximately 30% and 43% lower dementia risk, respectively.
Among participants of African ancestry the pattern of lower dementia risk with higher lifestyle scores was similar, with the intermediate and high categories associated with 6% and 17% lower risk respectively. The authors caution that the smaller sample size in this group limited statistical precision, making these estimates less certain and highlighting the need for larger and more diverse studies.
Interpretation and implications
“These healthy habits in the Life’s Simple 7 have been linked to a lower risk of dementia overall, but it is uncertain whether the same applies to people with a high genetic risk,” said study author Adrienne Tin, Ph.D., of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “The good news is that even for people who are at the highest genetic risk, living by this same healthier lifestyle are likely to have a lower risk of dementia.”
The findings support the idea that modifiable lifestyle and cardiovascular factors can meaningfully influence dementia risk across genetic backgrounds. For clinicians and older adults, the results reinforce public health messages emphasizing physical activity, healthy eating, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding smoking, and managing blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar as practical steps that may reduce dementia risk.
Limitations and future research
A key limitation of the research is the relatively small number of participants of African ancestry and the concentration of many African American participants from a single site, which reduces the ability to generalize findings to broader populations. The authors call for larger sample sizes from diverse ancestral backgrounds to obtain more reliable estimates of how these modifiable health factors affect dementia risk within different genetic risk groups.
About this genetics and dementia research news
Author: M.A. Rosko
Source: AAN
Contact: M.A. Rosko – AAN
Original research: The findings will appear in Neurology.