Up to 1 in 5 dementia cases may be avoidable by treating vision impairment

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-09-06 01:00

International

What does this mean?

Jump to: MultimediaAttachmentsExpert Reaction

Between 5 and 19% of dementia cases in the US could be linked to vision problems, according to researchers who say this means treatment and prevention of those vision problems has the potential to reduce dementia rates. Previous research has identified that vision impairment could be a modifiable risk factor for dementia, so the team  used data from 2,767 older adults participating in a long-term health study to calculate how many dementia cases within that group could be linked back to a vision impairment. They say up to 19% of dementia cases within the group could be attributed to at least one vision impairment,  with contrast sensitivity issues most strongly linked to dementia. The researchers say their study can't prove the vision issues caused dementia in the participants, but it is possible that if you could prevent these vision problems from occurring, fewer people would go on to develop dementia.