Scientists have named a factor that increases the risk of dementia four times

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Dementia is seen by many as an inevitable consequence of aging. However, this is not the case. There are risk factors that seriously increase the likelihood of dementia in the future. For example, lack of physical activity.

According to the study, people who refuse physical activity have four times more chances of developing dementia. Using data from more than 196,000 adults over 60 living in the UK, the team calculated each subject's genetic risk of developing dementia and assigned them a frailty score based on various health indicators.

“We observed a fourfold increase in the frequency of dementia cases in people with a high degree of frailty compared to stronger people,” the authors say.

After taking into account various genetic factors of dementia, they found that the risk of its development in the group with a high degree frailty was two and a half times higher than in the control group.

“We are seeing increasing evidence that life-long activities can significantly reduce the risk of developing dementia,” says David Ward, MD, lead author of author of the study from Dalhousie University's Department of Geriatric Medicine.

The study also noted that in subjects with a high genetic risk of dementia, a high frailty score resulted in a 5.8-fold increased risk, compared to people with low genetic risk and low frailty.