A composite lifestyle score created using five factors (tobacco smoking, alcohol use, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), hours of sleep, and diet quality) showed that healthy lifestyles were associated with increased risk. reduced rate of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), independent of sociodemographic factors and health conditions.1
In a population-based cohort of mostly low-income white and black Americans, each person’s lifestyle factor was rated as 0 (unhealthy), 1 (intermediate), or 2 (healthy) based on guidelines from health, with a composite score that adds all scores. At the end of the analysis, those with at least 7 points of the composite score (out of 10) had a 32% lower risk compared to those with 0 to 3 points. Similarly, those with 5 to 6 points also had a 22% lower risk.
Although not necessarily an entirely new finding, the study’s researchers, including lead author Danxia Yu, PhD, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, concluded that the data “support the impact of healthy and achievable lifestyles on prevention of ADRD that could benefit everyone to eventually reduce the health burdens and disparities posed by ADRD.
The analysis, based on the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS), included claims data from 1,694 patients aged at least 65 years with newly diagnosed ADRD among a cohort of 17,209 participants during a median follow-up. of 4.0 years. Two-thirds of SCCS participants were self-reported black people; more than half had annual household income of less than $15,000. Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for incident ADRD, treating death as a competing risk.