Prevalence and patterns of modifiable risk factors for dementia

Project Summary

With the growing age of the Canadian population, the number of people living with dementia is projected to increase in the upcoming years. Given the current absence of disease-modifying treatments for dementia, there exists a pressing need to enhance our understanding of how to reduce dementia risk across all Canadians. A wide range of modifiable risk factors for dementia have been established: a 2020 report from the Lancet Commission found that addressing these modifiable risk factors might prevent up to 40% of dementias. Most research examining risk factors and dementia outcomes has tended to focus on individual risk factors. However, it has been established that we need to move towards understanding multiple risk factors simultaneously.

This project will examine modifiable risk factors for dementia in CLSA participants, calculate how frequently they occur and identify any common patterns to further our understanding of modifiable dementia risk in the Canadian population.