Reducing your risk of developing dementia; exploring risk factors and promoting awareness
By Ian Dovaston, Senior Improvement Manager, NHS Wales Executive
To mark Dementia Action Week (19-25 May), we’re sharing a series of blogs written by members of our dementia team and NHS colleagues who lead work to improve dementia care in regions across Wales.
View our dementia pages to see how we’re working together to make Wales dementia friendly.
Did you know there are things you can do to potentially reduce your risk of developing dementia? If you answered ‘no’ then you won’t be alone as a recent poll identified that most people are unaware. A Lancet report was published in 2020 outlining 12 risk factors that account for 40 per cent of dementia globally.
More recently the Lancet has added another two dementia risk factors, high cholesterol (specifically LDL cholesterol) and uncorrected vision loss.
Many of these risk factors you may have heard of before. Obesity, being physically inactive, stopping smoking and reducing alcohol intake are messages we have become accustomed to and are often referred to in reducing our risk of stroke or heart failure.
Generally, the messaging in relation to dementia is that “What is good for the heart is good for the head”. That being said, there are a number of risk factors that may be less obvious. Hearing loss is a great example, did you know that some studies suggest that the severity of hearing loss correlates with a greater risk of developing dementia. While the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, theories suggest that hearing loss can lead to social isolation, increased brain effort during communication, and potentially alters brain structure, all of which may contribute to the greater risk.
So, what is happening to spread this message?
At NHS Wales Executive we are looking to promote this information in a number of different ways. The first of which is through a series of workshops where we discuss all things health promotion, how we can incorporate messaging in our work, thinking about the audiences we can reach and those we want to, and planning actions to push this messaging to them.
We are also working with regions across Wales to explore how this messaging can be incorporated into the work that is being done in communities. This involves meeting with community leads to identify potential groups of interest and how this messaging can be spread locally.
Finally, we are looking to produce a national campaign that will publicise the risk factors to wide and varied audiences across Wales, highlighting how people can modify their behaviours in relation to the risk factors. This is still in its early stages, but we are keen to produce this work going forward.
To learn more about reducing your risk of dementia the Alzheimer’s Society have a number of resources available and can be accessed at: Risk factors for dementia | Alzheimer’s Society