Contrary to the general perceptions, genes are not only the sole cause for young-onset dementia, researchers have said, pointing out that there are at least 15 risk factors responsible for the progressive neurodegenerative disease.
The large-scale study, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, indicates that it may be possible to reduce the risk of young-onset dementia, which occurs when a person develops the disorder affecting their memory, thinking, and social abilities before the age of 65, by targeting health and lifestyle factors.
Relatively little research has been done on young-onset dementia, though globally there are around 3.7 lakh new cases of young-onset dementia each year.
The researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK and Maastricht University, Netherlands, followed over 3.5 lakh participants younger than 65 from the UK Biobank study, a large-scale biomedical database containing de-identified genetic, lifestyle, and health information and biological samples from half a million participants.
The team evaluated a broad array of risk factors ranging from genetic predispositions to lifestyle and environmental influences.
