Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factors

In retrospect, I could have improved Beating the Dementia Monster by including a list of risk factors for AD.  So I am providing a list here.  I discussed most of these in the text, but it's also helpful to be able to look at a simple list.  So here it is:

Risk factors you can’t control:

• Age – The older you are the more vulnerable you are.
• Gender – Women are more likely to develop the disease, but there is controversy over this as a risk factor.
• Down syndrome
• Family history – Genetic predisposition.  Some genes increase risk while others are deterministic.  People with deterministic genes develop AD in their 40s or 50s (“early onset Alzheimer’s disease”), but this condition is rare.

Other, sometimes modifiable risk factors in no particular order:

• Diabetes
• Poor diet
• Sleep apnea
• History of smoking
• History of alcohol abuse
• Head injury
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Social isolation
• High stress lifestyle
• High blood pressure and cholesterol levels
• Obesity
• Low levels of formal education
• History of depression