Dementia is a growing pandemic that presents profound challenges to health care systems, families and societies throughout the world, including Ireland. By 2050, the number of people living with dementia worldwide could triple to 139 million, with associated costs rising to $3 trillion. Up to 40% of all dementia cases, particularly Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), are associated with modifiable lifestyle-related risk factors, such as alcohol consumption, obesity, hypertension, among others. As exposure to most of these risk factors begins decades before dementia onset, interventions must be implemented in midlife. Midlife, thus, presents a critical and unique window for disease altering intervention, before the manifestation of substantial brain damage. Importantly, other modifiable lifestyle factors, such as education, occupational complexity and intellectually and socially stimulating activities, play a neuroprotective role, i.e., have been associated with lower cognitive impairment in AD, but it remains unknown whether these protective factors play a role in midlife. This study will investigate whether modifiable lifestyle factors mitigate the negative impact of risk factors for AD (genetics, cardiovascular health, family history) on cognition in midlife. The first objective is to investigate these relationships cross-sectionally in a midlife cohort (N=210), and the second is to investigate the relationship between protective lifestyle and risk factors longitudinally in this cohort. This study will identify targets for early non-pharmacological interventions in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. It will advance understanding of how lifestyle activities can be used to protect early against known risks for late-life Alzheimer’s Disease.
