July 15, 2019

dementia risk – new study on lifestyle and genetic risk factors

There’s still a lot we don’t know about dementia, but we do know there can be both genetic and lifestyle risk factors.

A new study led by scientists from the University of Exeter, to be presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2019 in Los Angeles and simultaneously being published in a peer-reviewed journal, uses UK Biobank data to look at the contributions of lifestyle and genetics to dementia risks, and tries to tease out whether one is more important than the other.

Come to the SMC to hear authors of the study discuss aspects such as:

– how can we separate out genetic risk from lifestyle factors like smoking and obesity?

– what is the association between lifestyle and genetic risk?

– what is a polygenic risk score?

– how can studies control for things like socioeconomic status?

– is there only so much being healthy can do to prevent dementia?

– is it ever inevitable that certain people will develop dementia?

Speakers included:

Prof David Llewellyn, Associate Professor of Neuroepidemiology and Digital Health, University of Exeter Medical School

Dr Elzbieta Kuzma, Research Fellow in Neuroepidemiology, University of Exeter Medical School

This briefing was accompanied bu a roundup of expert comments.