Almost half of people in a recent survey (47%) by Brain Health Scotland did not know it was possible to reduce their risk of developing dementia – and only one in three knew that sedentary lifestyle, smoking and social isolation were all risk factors.

The demographically diverse survey of 941 Scots found clear knowledge gaps about brain health.

Professor Kaarin Anstey, director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute and lead of the Brain Health and Dementia Centre at NeuRA, says surveys conducted in Australia have had similar findings to the Scottish research.

“Dementia literacy surveys here have found that the public has good recognition of dementia from a vignette, but about half of the population are not aware of the common modifiable risk factors for dementia,” Dr Anstey says. “There is particularly poor recognition of vascular risk factors.”

In the Scottish survey, about four in 10 participants (39%) incorrectly believed symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease would appear suddenly.

Knowledge about dementia was lowest among participants in the 18-34 year old age group and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Participants who were over 55 and those who had personal contact with someone with dementia were better informed than younger counterparts or those who didn’t have experience with anyone with dementia.

Again, Professor Anstey says there have been similar findings here.

“Younger adults tend to have poorer knowledge of dementia risk factors than older adults. People with a family member who is living with dementia tend to have better knowledge,” she confirmed.

Encouragingly, the survey showed that many respondents were keen to learn.

• Overall 85% of participants said they’d want to know their risk of developing dementia, and 88% were open to early detection
• They were most motivated by the idea of having more time to plan future care
• Respondents were most concerned with having to live in a nursing home and loss of financial security.

Motivation to make lifestyle changes to reduce dementia risk also differed among some groups.

People who’d had contact with someone with dementia and those aged 35-44 were more motivated to modify risk factors.

The research shows that people in their midlife have a higher level of motivation to optimise their brain health, making it a prime opportunity to address any of their risk factors, says Dr Marita Long, a GP and Honorary Medical Advisor at Dementia Australia.

“The pathology for dementia starts some 20-30 years before the onset of symptoms, so there is a definite window of opportunity,” Dr Long said. “GPs can utilise the 45-49 year health assessment, which is a time-based item number to look at optimising overall health and wellbeing including brain health.”

Dr Long uses CogDrisk, an evidence-based tool developed by Professor Anstey, which looks at a person’s individual risk and offers up-to-date risk reduction strategies.

“It’s ‘never too early, never too late’ to optimise brain health,” she added, referencing the tagline for dementia prevention.

Professor Anstey agrees, noting that conversations about risk factors for other chronic diseases are also an opportunity to educate about brain health.

“The take home for GPs is that there are benefits to incorporating messaging about brain health when addressing risk factors for other chronic diseases. For example, if you are explaining the need to treat hypertension to prevent heart disease and stroke, then you can also include dementia (or brain health) in that conversation,” Professor Kaarin Anstey said.

One idea to raise awareness about dementia risk reduction in young people is to frame the discussion around brain health rather than dementia— just like we now talk about heart health, Professor Anstey added.

The challenge in younger groups is that old age seems so far off and they have many other priorities, she explained. Yet, the effects of these risk factors accumulate over the life course.

“That is why talking about brain health instead of dementia and linking this to other things may make it more relevant to younger people – but we do need to do some more work with younger adults to understand what would work in promoting messages to them.”

For anyone interested in learning more about preventing dementia, Dr Long also recommends this free online course from the University of Tasmania.