Can dementia be prevented?

Dementia cannot be prevented, but there are ways to reduce the risk of getting it. The Lancet review article recommended: Some evidence also suggests that vaccination against certain viruses — influenza, for example — reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s, said Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and the author of one such study. Three annual vaccinations for flu reduced the risk 20 percent over the next four to eight years, while six doubled it to a 40 percent reduction, Schulz said.

The term dementia refers to symptoms of impairment of memory, thinking and reasoning, which eventually render people unable to engage in daily tasks. These symptoms characterize several progressive brain diseases — Alzheimer’s disease being the most common. “People lose previously attained function in cognition, like memory, judgment, spatial awareness,” said Gill Livingston , professor of psychiatry of older people at University College London and one of the authors of the Lancet article. “It has to be severe enough to affect activities of daily living, like looking after money or shopping or cooking to previous standard, or social functioning.” Dementia symptoms result from brain neurons — or nerve cells — losing their connection to other brain cells and eventually dying, according to the National Institute on Aging . Everyone loses neurons over time, but the loss is more significant in dementia patients. The risk of dementia rises significantly after age 65 , but it is not an inevitable result of aging. “Dementia is not normal aging,” said Christine Kistler , associate professor of geriatric and family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Dementia is a disease.” Also, Carter wasn’t diagnosed until she was in her 90s, but “most people don’t live until 95,” Livingston said. “It usually presents at an earlier age, at about 80. However, it can occur in young people and extremely old people.” About 200,000 Americans younger than 65 suffer from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a number projected to increase to 14 million people by 2060 , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women, Blacks and Hispanics are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s than Whites.

What are the signs and symptoms of dementia?

As we age, remembering or retrieving information may take more effort and time, and we may need a hint or cue, said Andrew Budson , professor of neurology at Boston University and chief of cognitive and behavioral neurology at VA Boston Healthcare System. “But it is not normal to be unable to retrieve a memory when it has been learned well, and cues are given to help retrieve it,” said Budson, who also is associate chief of staff for education at the VA Boston Healthcare System. “This latter case often leads to people asking the same questions or telling the same stories to the same people over and over and over again.” This change in abilities and personality “usually happens subtly and often the person with dementia is unaware of it, although the people around them are very aware,” Livingston said. Dementia is not the same as mild cognitive impairment, an early stage of memory and cognitive loss usually not serious enough to impair a person’s daily activities. Some people with MCI do progress to full-blown dementia, but others — a very large percentage — do not, Schulz said. A person may show impairment in one area, but it will not affect their daily activities; for example, someone with short-term memory loss who is still going to work, he said. About a quarter of these people return to normal, Kistler said.

How is dementia diagnosed?

If you (or your family members) suspect you have dementia, you should be evaluated by a doctor, Kistler said. “There also are memory tests and other diagnostics that are more thorough — they are several hours of intense cognitive testing — that can be done by neurologists,” she said. Brain scans and other tests — on blood and spinal fluid — can detect obvious changes in the brain and pinpoint the presence of certain substances linked to dementia. But these can be misleading, Kistler said. “There are people whose brain scans look bad, but have no external manifestations of dementia, and others whose brains look okay, but may have obvious signs of dementia,” she said. “These tests are helpful, but they are not a slam dunk.”

Can dementia be treated?

The Food and Drug Administration has approved several drugs to treat the progression and symptoms of dementia, including licensing a medication to treat dementia-related agitation. But “these can have significant side effects,” Kistler cautioned.

More people are living with dementia. What are the signs and risk factors?

Dementia is characterized by impairment of memory, thinking and reasoning, which eventually render people unable to engage in daily tasks

By Marlene Cimons

Updated June 2, 2023 at 2:25 p.m. EDT|Published June 2, 2023 at 12:42 p.m. EDT

Former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on July 10, 2021, in Plains, Ga. The Carter family shared news that Rosalynn Carter has dementia, the Carter Center announced May 30. (John Bazemore/AP)

9 min

More than 55 million people globally live with dementia, and the number is expected to increase to an estimated 153 million by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.

Recently, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, 95, was diagnosed with dementia.

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With the number of people living with dementia rising, individuals need to take steps to reduce the risk of developing it, experts say. These include sustained physical activity, making healthier lifestyle choices and staying socially connected, a 2020 article published in Lancet recommended.

“Although behavior change is difficult and some associations might not be purely causal, individuals have a huge potential to reduce their dementia risk,” the researchers said.

We asked experts some common questions about dementia. Here are their answers.

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