VOA健康报道2025--How to Lower Your Risk of Dementia Starting in Middle Age

New research suggests the risk of Americans developing dementia over a lifetime may be much higher than once thought. A new study predicts about one million Americans will likely develop the disease each year by 2060. That is about twice the number of people estimated in earlier studies.

The new finding is based on a large study involving a team from major U.S. medical centers and other research organizations. It recently appeared in the publication Nature Medicine. The study found that after age 55, people face up to a 42 percent chance of developing dementia, if they live long enough.

The research showed the risk of dementia is highest after age 75. But the good news is that there are steps people can take to reduce the risks. One of them is controlling high blood pressure and other conditions, such as diabetes¹ or being severely² overweight, meaning obese³. Health experts advise everyone, even those in middle age, to take steps to avoid such problems.

Dr. Josef Coresh of NYU Langone Health was a lead writer of the study. He told The Associated Press, "All of our research suggests what you do in midlife really matters."

What is Dementia?

It can be quite common for older people to take longer to remember a name or where they placed certain objects. But research on dementia suggests it is not a normal part of aging. Rather, the disease is a progressive loss of memory, language and other cognitive⁴ abilities over time. Getting older is currently the biggest risk and the U.S. population is aging at a fast rate.

Dementia has many forms, the most common being Alzheimer's. Because the disease is linked to silent changes in the brain, signs or symptoms of dementia might not start showing until many years later. Other kinds include vascular⁵ dementia, when heart disease or small strokes limit blood flow to the brain. Many people also have mixed causes, meaning vascular problems could worsen existing dementia.

Dr. James Galvin is an Alzheimer's specialist at the University of Miami. He noted⁶ that aging by itself is "not a guarantee that someone will develop dementia." Galvin was not involved in the new study. But he said the latest findings on that support previous research.

Dementia risk by age

Earlier studies estimated about 14 percent of men and 23 percent of women would develop some form of dementia during their lifetime. Since women live longer than men, they are more likely to get it.

But the latest research examined more recent data from a U.S. study that followed the heart health and cognitive abilities of about 15,000 older adults from 1987 until 2020. In that group, the risk for dementia averaged 35 percent for men and 48 percent for women.

One reason for the different rates is that the group of people studied lived longer. The study shows how the risk changes with additional years of life. Only 4 percent of people developed dementia between the ages of 55 and 75. Coresh describes this difference as an important 20-year window for protecting brain health. For people surviving common health threats until 75, the dementia risk then jumped - to 20 percent by age 85 and 42 percent between the ages of 85 and 95.

Black Americans had a slightly higher risk, 44 percent, than white individuals at 41 percent.

Ways to help lower dementia risk

There are some health risks people cannot control. Besides age, people can inherit a gene⁷ version, or variant⁸, called APOE4. This can raise the risk of getting Alzheimer's later in life.

But medical researchers have identified some things people can do to delay, or possibly even prevent developing dementia. The University of Miami's Galvin advises people to exercise, avoid obesity⁹ and control blood pressure. He noted that, "What's good for your heart is good for your brain."

Stay socially and cognitively¹⁰ active, too, Galvin said. He urges people to try hearing aids if age brings hearing loss, which can create social isolation¹¹. He added, "There are things that we have control over, and those things I think would be really, really important to build a better brain as we age."

I'm Jill Robbins.

Lauran Neergaard reported this story for the Associated Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.

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Words in This Story

dementia - n. a mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to understand what is real and what is not real

cognitive - adj. of, relating to, or involving conscious mental activities (such as thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering)

vascular - adj. of or relating to the veins¹², arteries¹³, etc., that carry fluids (such as blood) through the body

stroke - n. medical. a serious illness caused when a blood vessel¹⁴ in your brain suddenly breaks or is blocked

inherit - v. biology. to have (a characteristic, disease, etc.) because of the genes¹⁵ that you get from your parents when you are born

isolation - n. the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others

1 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

4 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

5 vascular   

adj.血管的，脉管的

参考例句：

• The mechanism of this anomalous vascular response is unknown.此种不规则的血管反应的机制尚不清楚。
• The vascular changes interfere with diffusion of nutrients from plasma into adjacent perivascular tissue and cells.这些血管变化干扰了营养物质从血浆中向血管周围邻接的组织和细胞扩散。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

8 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

9 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

10 cognitively   

参考例句：

• Cognitively,man,the subject of cognition,must classify and categorize the objects. 从认知学角度来看 ，作为认知主体的人对于认知对象必须进行分类和范畴化。 来自互联网
• Cognitively, reference can be studied along with information processing of human mind. 从认知的角度看，要研究人类思维的信息处理过程。 来自互联网

11 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

12 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

15 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪