Dementia reduces the ability to think and conduct day-to-day activities. It impacts not only the person who experiences it, but also those around them and society as a whole. Because of this global impact, it is important to find ways to reduce or delay dementia. A recent summary of the research showed this may be possible in up to 40% of the cases. It also identified 12 factors that play an important role and can be changed. These factors include: less education, hypertension, hearing difficulties, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, low social contact, alcohol use, traumatic brain injury, and air pollution.
Some people are more affected by these risk factors than others. People from minoritized ethnic groups are more affected by dementia risk factors. For example, people from a South Asian background are 2 to 6 times more likely to live with diabetes than the white British population. Projections of dementia also show an inequality in dementia risk. Namely, in the UK, the number of people from minority ethnic groups with dementia is expected to increase sevenfold by 2051, compared to a twofold increase in the white British population.
Despite these inequalities, minoritised ethnic groups have not been consistently engaged by researchers to take part in studies about dementia risk. Because of this, it is likely that there are knowledge gaps. There is also no summary of what we know about dementia risk factors for these groups.