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Every row of the evidence table
One row per finding: what was tested, which way the result went, and how the study was built. The answer by area, and where the studies disagree, are on the main page.
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Showing 14 of 382 rows. One row per study per exposure: a study that tested two different things appears twice, once for each.
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| Exposure | Question | Direction | Outcome measured | Design | People | Effect size, as the source reported it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed neuropathology at autopsy (LATE-NC, Lewy, vascular, ADNC) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for degenerative pathology profiles: more than 80% had mixed pathologies, and of five clustered profiles the LATE-NC/hippocampal sclerosis and the ADNC/amyloid angiopathy profiles showed the fastest cognitive decline. |
Latent neuropathologic profiles at autopsy and their associated cognitive trajectories over up to 30 years | cohort study | 1,633 | not established — pubmed abstract results gives profile sizes but no numeric estimate of the differences in cognitive decline. |
JAMA Network Open
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41543852 |
| Mixed neuropathology at autopsy (LATE-NC, Lewy, vascular, ADNC) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for LATE-NC: found in 64% of brains, stages 1a, 2 and 3 were associated with dementia and lower MMSE, it was among the strongest independent predictors of dementia, and its attributable risk (24.2%) exceeded that of Alzheimer's neuropathologic change (18.6%); it usually occurred alongside other pathologies. |
Frequency of LATE-NC at autopsy in people aged 85+, and its association with dementia and MMSE alongside other pathologies | cohort study | 295 | LATE-NC was found in 189 of 295 subjects (64.1%) ... When LATE-NC and ADNC were assessed in a multivariate model without other dementia-associated pathologies, the attributable risk was higher for LATE-NC than ADNC (24.2% versus 18.6%) |
Brain
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 38938199 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors. The Danish estimate (37.8% across 16 factors) is lower than the Lancet Commission's global 45%. |
Population attributable fraction of dementia | cohort study | 1,753,515 | Overall population attributable fraction 37.8% (95% CI 35.6-40.0); infections 9.4%, depression 8.7%, CVD 7.6% |
The Lancet Public Health
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 42425116 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors: depression, diabetes, low education, smoking, obesity, physical inactivity and alcohol overconsumption each independently raised the hazard of early-onset dementia, and most associations were stronger for early-onset than late-onset dementia. |
Incident early-onset dementia (before 65) and late-onset dementia over a median 13.7 years | cohort study | 544,442 | Black versus White race (1·61 [1·23-2·11]), grade school education or less (1·99 [1·67-2·38]), diabetes (2·45 [1·99-3·03]), depression (2·73 [2·34-3·20]), smoking (1·86 [1·56-2·22]), obesity (1·24 [1·04-1·48]), physical inactivity (1·33 [1·11-1·59]), and alcohol overconsumption (1·22 [1·01-1·47]) were independently associated with higher hazards of early-onset dementia |
The lancet. Healthy longevity
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41936382 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors. Which factor mattered most differed by APOE risk group, on 2,065 cases split across 11 factors and three genetic strata, so the subgroup estimates are imprecise. |
Incident all-cause dementia over 12.4 years | cohort study | 182,473 | Low social contact HR 3.86 (95% CI 2.08-7.17) in low APOE risk group; less education PAF 11.35% in high APOE risk group |
Annals of Neurology
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41085200 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying hypertension, diabetes or smoking. The attributable share rose with the age at which the factors were measured (22% at 45-54, 44% at 65-74), which is what you would expect if some of it is reverse causation rather than cause. |
Population attributable fraction of dementia by age 80 | cohort study | 12,274 | 22-44% of dementia by age 80 attributable to hypertension, diabetes or smoking |
JAMA Neurology
2025 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 40455489 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors: the Commission attributes 45% of cases to 14 modifiable factors, which is the same number read the other way as prevention potential. The Commission's own caveat is that "some associations might be only partly causal". |
Population attributable fraction of dementia | systematic review | not stated | "estimated that the PAF for all 14 risk factors was 45.3%" (Table 1: overall PAF 45.3%, rounded 45%); high LDL cholesterol unweighted PAF 18.7%, weighted 6.9%, rounded 7%; untreated vision loss unweighted 6.0%, weighted 2.2%, rounded 2% |
The Lancet
2024 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 39096926 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors. 39 candidate factors were screened against 485 cases, so individual estimates are imprecise. |
Incident young-onset dementia | cohort study | 356,052 | 485 incident young-onset dementia cases (16.8 per 100,000 person-years) among 356,052 participants; 39 candidate risk factors tested, most of the associated factors modifiable |
JAMA Neurology
2024 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 38147328 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the risk factors. The weighted combined estimate (32.0% for seven factors) is lower than the Lancet Commission's 45% for 14. |
Population attributable fraction of dementia | meta-analysis | not stated | Weighted combined PAF 32.0% (95% CI 26.6-37.5) for seven modifiable factors |
Lancet Healthy Longevity
2024 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 38824956 |
| Modifiable risk factors combined All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyFor the vascular risk factors: up to a quarter of the education-dementia association ran through hypertension, diabetes and related midlife factors, so carrying them accounted for part of the excess risk. |
Incident dementia | cohort study | 13,368 | 8-44% lower dementia risk with higher education vs grade school; up to 25% mediated by midlife vascular risk factors |
Annals of Neurology
2023 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 36966451 |
| Peripheral diseases combined (population attributable fraction) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for carrying the peripheral diseases: together they were related to about one-third of global dementia burden, led by periodontal disease, chronic liver disease, hearing loss, vision loss and type 2 diabetes. Attributable fractions assume the pooled associations are causal. |
Population attributable fraction of global dementia burden for 16 peripheral diseases | meta-analysis | not stated | Globally, these peripheral diseases collectively were related to a combined PAF of 33.18% (95% confidence interval (CI) 16.80-48.43) of dementia burden, corresponding to 18.8 million prevalent cases. The leading ten PAF contributors were periodontal diseases (6.10%, 95% CI 0.95-10.28), cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (5.51%, 95% CI 1.77-8.86), age-related and other hearing loss (4.70%, 95% CI 3.51-6.06), blindness and vision loss (4.30%, 95% CI 3.43-5.05), type 2 diabetes mellitus (3.80%, 95% CI 3.06-4.53) |
Nature human behaviour
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41559195 |
| Race and ethnicity (population comparison) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for being African-American or American Indian/Alaska Native relative to Asian-American members: incidence was highest in those groups (26.6 and 22.2 per 1000 person-years) and lowest in Asian-Americans (15.2). The authors present this as a benchmark for reducing disparities, not as a biological effect of race. |
Dementia incidence 2000-2013 and 25-year cumulative risk at age 65 | cohort study | 274,283 | Dementia incidence (n = 59,555) was highest for African-Americans (26.6/1000 person-years) and AIANs (22.2/1000 person-years); intermediate for Latinos (19.6/1000 person-years), Pacific Islanders (19.6/1000 person-years), and whites (19.3/1000 person-years) and lowest among Asian-Americans (15.2/1000 person-years). Risk was 65% greater for African-Americans (hazard ratio = 1.65; 95% confidence interval = 1.58-1.72) versus Asian-Americans |
Alzheimer's & Dementia
2016 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 26874595 |
| Sex differences (biological sex as exposure) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for female sex: at higher amyloid levels women had higher plasma p-tau217 than men, greater tau deposition and accumulation at a given p-tau217 level, and faster cognitive decline in two of the cohorts. |
Plasma p-tau217 by sex and amyloid load; tau PET accumulation and cognitive decline | cohort study | 1,292 | Compared with men, women had significantly higher baseline p-tau217 levels at higher aggregated Aβ Centiloid levels (β, -0.21 [95% CI, -0.37 to -0.05], P = .009; highest interaction was found in the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease/Longitudinal Evaluation of Amyloid Risk and Neurodegeneration [A4/LEARN] cohort) |
JAMA neurology
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41697669 |
| Sex differences (biological sex as exposure) All modifiable factors together | Prevention |
Harm
whyDirection is for female sex: women had higher odds of a high neuritic plaque burden than men after adjustment, and were more likely to reach Braak stage V-VI. Black non-carriers and non-carriers of African ancestry were least likely to have high plaque burden, a protection weakened in ε4 carriers. |
Neuritic plaque burden (CERAD score) at autopsy by sex, and its interaction with APOE ε4, race and African ancestry | cross-sectional study | 2,268 | Female individuals had higher plaque burden than male individuals (unadjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.97; 95% CI, 1.67-2.29; P < .001), and this association remained significant in adjusted models for sociodemographic and vascular factors and APOEε4 status (adjusted OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.33-2.20; P < .001). APOEε4 carriers of both sexes had an approximately 4-fold greater odds of plaques |
JAMA neurology
2026 ✓ Peer-reviewed PMID 41729539 |