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Population attributable fractions of a wide range of peripheral diseases for the burden of dementia
Zhenhong Deng, Yuxin Yang, Queran Lin, Songhua Xiao, You Zuo, Jinyuan Wang, Yongteng Xu, Honghong Li, et al.. Nature human behaviour, 2026-01-20
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Growing evidence suggests that peripheral diseases serve as risk factors for dementia, but the population-level burden of dementia associated with various peripheral diseases has remained unknown. Here, by conducting a systematic review and Bayesian meta-analyses to estimate the relative risks of 26 peripheral diseases across 9 systems with dementia, including 202 articles searched from the PubMed until 6 September 2024, we identified 16 peripheral diseases as associated with increased risk of dementia. With the relative risks estimated from meta-analyses, prevalences extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study, and communalities among these 16 peripheral diseases derived from the UK Biobank, we analysed the population attributable fractions (PAFs) of these 16 peripheral diseases for dementia, stratified by sex, age, sociodemographic index level, world region and country, and trends from 1990 to 2021. 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), chronic kidney disease (2.74%, 95% CI 1.53-4.02), osteoarthritis (2.26%, 95% CI 0.41-4.12), stroke (1.01%, 95% CI 0.86-1.17), ischaemic heart disease (0.97%, 95% CI 0.69-1.29) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (0.92%, 95% CI 0.34-1.54). This study revealed that a series of peripheral diseases were associated with increased risk of dementia and collectively were related to about one-third of the global dementia burden, highlighting the need for targeted public health strategies.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Deng, Z., Yang, Y., Lin, Q., Xiao, S., Zuo, Y., Wang, J., et al. (2026). Population attributable fractions of a wide range of peripheral diseases for the burden of dementia. Nature human behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02392-2
Vancouver
Deng Z, Yang Y, Lin Q, Xiao S, Zuo Y, Wang J, et al. Population attributable fractions of a wide range of peripheral diseases for the burden of dementia. Nature human behaviour. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02392-2. PMID: 41559195.
BibTeX
@article{deng2026-41559195,
author = {Deng, Zhenhong and Yang, Yuxin and Lin, Queran and Xiao, Songhua and Zuo, You and Wang, Jinyuan and Xu, Yongteng and Li, Honghong and others},
title = {{Population attributable fractions of a wide range of peripheral diseases for the burden of dementia}},
journal = {Nature human behaviour},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1038/s41562-025-02392-2},
pmid = {41559195},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02392-2}
}
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Key findings
- Growing evidence suggests that peripheral diseases serve as risk factors for dementia, but the population-level burden of dementia associated with various peripheral diseases has remained unknown.
- Here, by conducting a systematic review and Bayesian meta-analyses to estimate the relative risks of 26 peripheral diseases across 9 systems with dementia, including 202 articles searched from the PubMed until 6 September 2024, we identified 16 peripheral diseases as associated with increased risk of dementia.
- This study revealed that a series of peripheral diseases were associated with increased risk of dementia and collectively were related to about one-third of the global dementia burden, highlighting the need for targeted public health strategies.
Why it matters
This analysis estimated that 16 peripheral diseases together accounted for about a third of dementia burden globally, with periodontal disease, liver cirrhosis, hearing loss, and vision loss among the largest contributors. These are population-level associations, so they suggest possible prevention targets but do not prove that treating these conditions prevents dementia.
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Study details
- Study designmeta-analysis
- Effect sizeCombined population attributable fraction of 16 peripheral diseases for dementia: 33.18% (95% CI 16.80-48.43)
- Evidence strengthModerate
Limitations
Population attributable fractions assume the observed associations are causal; overlap between diseases was estimated from UK Biobank only; the pooled article count, not a participant total, is reported.
How this study scored 56/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. Scored zero for sample size and studied in people because the record does not state it. We have no data on free to read, so that was left out: it earned 55 of the 98 points we could judge it on, which is 56 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Nature human behaviour) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Nature Human Behaviour: journal h-index 180 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A meta-analysis pooling many studies |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 3 / 3 | Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | A review of other studies — randomization is not credited here |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 4 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 2.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 18.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 4 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 0 / 4 | Last-listed author Yamei Tang: h-index 3 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University College London: institution h-index 2,029 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 6 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41559195) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 55 / 98 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 55 of the 98 points we could judge it on is 56 out of 100. |
| Total | 56 / 100 | — |
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