17 Factors Affect Your Risk for Dementia, Stroke and Depression
By JCA on April 9, 2025
By , CNN
More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a number expected to nearly triple by 2050. Deaths from strokes may double by the same year, and 10% to 20% of adults experience depression later in life.
While the numbers are striking, there’s a growing body of evidence showing that many of these cases may not be genetically fated, but rather could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing health factors generally within our control.
At least 17 factors contribute to dementia, stroke and late-life depression, according to an extensive review published April 3, 2025 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.
Addressing the 17 factors can reduce people’s risk for all three conditions. Those factors are, in no order of importance:
- Blood pressure
- Body mass index
- Kidney disease
- Blood sugar
- Total cholesterol
- Alcohol use
- Diet
- Hearing loss or impairment
- Pain
- Physical activity
- Purpose in life
- Sleep
- Smoking
- Social engagement
- Stress
- Cognitive activity during leisure time
- Depressive symptoms
“This study just really shows how powerful lifestyle and behavioral changes are for age-related brain diseases,” said senior study author Dr. Sanjula Singh, an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School and principal investigator at the Brain Care Labs at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Ultimately, we hope that people feel like there’s a hopeful message in here — that there are actually so many things that you can work on, and then not only your risk of stroke is lower, but also of dementia and/or of late-life depression,” Singh noted.