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Where you put down roots in the United States might shape your risk of developing dementia — at least that seems to be the case among mostly white and male veterans.
A growing body of evidence suggests that location plays a role in who experiences dementia, which is cognitive decline that’s bad enough to interfere with a person’s daily life. A study published June 9 in JAMA Neurology finds that older veterans in some parts of the United States are up to 25 percent more likely to develop dementia than their peers in other parts of the country.
These results are “striking,” says study author Kristine Yaffe, M.D., a neurologist and epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “We’re very excited to find out what’s behind this.”
Data on regional rates of dementia could help researchers better understand risk factors for the disease, she says. It can also help policymakers decide where to spend resources for preventing and treating dementia in the future. Yaffe is also chair of AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health.
Regional risk factors
Dementia has many risk factors, including how much education a person has attained, access to health care, social isolation, cardiovascular health and more. How likely someone is to be exposed to these factors can also be influenced by where they live.
Now, research suggests that location itself can help explain who gets dementia. In Europe, some countries have found that their populations have higher rates of dementia than their neighbors. (Italy is highest, at around 2 percent of its total 2018 population, and Ireland is lowest, at 1.09 percent, according to Alzheimer Europe.)
In the U.S., a study reported by Yaffe and her colleagues in 2023 concluded that veterans living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to develop dementia than veterans living in other locales.
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