This is what scientists say Maastricht University and the University of Exeter (UK). Researchers have discovered fifteen factors that increase the risk of dementia at a young age. Two of the most important causes appear to be depression and social isolation.
Although dementia is often associated with older people, the disease can develop even before the age of 65. For example, due to a combination of genes, social class or lifestyle. But poor mental health also appears to be an important risk factor and a good predictor for the development of the disease. The researchers concluded this after examining data from more than 350,000 people from the UK. “Social isolation and depression in particular appear to increase the risk of dementia at a young age,” says researcher Stevie Hendriks, a postdoctoral researcher at Maastricht University.
And these are just two factors that cannot be easily prevented. After all, getting rid of depression is very different from giving up a beer for your health. Furthermore, depression and loneliness are both currently common factors, especially in this age group. It is estimated that one in five Dutch people will suffer from depression at some point in their lives. “You see that depression is common in people in their thirties and forties, among informal caregivers, but also increasingly among young people,” psychologist Bert van den Bergh previously said in an interview with Scientias.nl.
Depression epidemic Depression isn’t just rampant in the Netherlands. According to the World Health Organization, three hundred million people worldwide suffer from depression. The figures have even led to talk of an epidemic of depression. Hendriks is therefore of the opinion that it is not a problem to be solved individually. “As a society, we place too much work pressure on ourselves. So it’s also something that we as a society need to help reduce.”
Impede In particular, we could provide better guidance to people who are at greater risk of developing dementia at a younger age. “If dementia ran in the family at a young age, for example, we could monitor these people better. Furthermore, we can provide them with tools to prevent social isolation and we need to treat depression more quickly.” It’s better for everyone, Hendriks points out, not just those at increased risk for dementia. Furthermore, the old advice remains, says fellow researcher Sebastian Köhler. “We already know that there are things that can be done to prevent or delay dementia in later life. For example, eat healthy, exercise, train your mind and take care of your feelings. This also applies to dementia at a young age. It is also important to avoid or treat stress, loneliness and depression.”
The difference between dementia in young and old people Dementia is a collective name for more than fifty brain diseases. The biggest difference between dementia at a young age and dementia at an older age is how often the different types occur. “About 70 percent of older adults suffer from Alzheimer’s disease,” says Hendriks. It is therefore one of the best known forms of the disease. “Only 30% – 40% suffer from this form of dementia at a young age. The rest are often caused by rarer variants that appear mainly at a younger age. Lewy body dementia, for example, or frontotemporal dementia. This may be because the symptoms of these types of dementia appear earlier, Hendriks says. “We know that Alzheimer’s disease takes longer to develop symptoms, so it makes more sense that this would occur more often later in life.” Researchers cannot yet say whether mental health also specifically affects any of these forms. They hope to prove this later in larger studies.
Prevalence In the Netherlands, around 15,000 people suffer from dementia at a young age. Every year, 1,000 to 1,500 are added. These people often have busy lives with a job, a family and a home. “The impact of dementia at a young age is therefore very large,” says Hendriks. It is therefore important to recognize dementia at a young age, which is why scientists conducted this research. “We want to know more about the causes and consequences of this disease. In this way we hope to be able to offer more people a better life.”
This research was the first step: gaining a better understanding of why dementia develops at a young age. “In the next phase, we want to test whether we can offer preventative measures for people with an increased genetic risk of developing dementia at a young age. We hope to also be able to offer tailor-made prevention, so that we can really play a significant role, “says Hendriks enthusiastically. Although these are big ambitions, he admits.
Hearing damage also plays a role In addition to mental causes and known physical causes, researchers have also found that people who suffer from hearing damage have a higher risk of dementia at a younger age. I am not yet able to determine exactly why this happens, although there are ideas about it. Hendriks: “One can imagine that hearing damage at a young age could lead to social isolation. This is why you can classify it as a mental cause, but we have not yet been able to investigate this in causal terms. For now we only know that there is a connection.”
