June marks Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month, a time to reflect not only on the challenges posed by dementia, but also on the remarkable progress being made to prevent and slow its development. As Chief Medical Officer at Solidarity, I’d like to share some hopeful news from the recent update of the Lancet Commission on Dementia.1 This landmark report adds powerful new evidence to our understanding of how we can protect our brains and serve our aging population through compassionate and data-driven treatment.
The Dementia Paradox: More Cases, Lower Incidence
It’s easy to understand that in the developed world more people are living long enough to face the risk of cognitive decline. But here’s the paradox: even as the number of people with dementia continues to rise, the rate of new cases per age group is declining in high-income countries. Why? It appears that decades of effort toward education, smoking cessation, hypertension treatment, and cardiovascular health have borne fruit.
The 2024 Lancet Commission connects this trend to improved physical and cognitive reserve developed across the life span. This means that we can indeed change our brain’s trajectory through strategic prevention, even late in life.
Prevention is Powerful: 14 Modifiable Risk Factors
The evidence is now stronger than ever that dementia is not inevitable. Up to 45% of dementia cases may be preventable through modification of known risk factors. The updated Lancet report highlights 14 risk factors, many of which Solidarity members already work to address through spiritual, medical, and lifestyle choices:
- Less education
- Untreated hearing loss
- Hypertension
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Depression
- Physical inactivity
- Diabetes
- Excessive alcohol use
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Air pollution
- Social isolation
- Untreated vision loss
- High LDL Cholesterol
Starting with education and continuing with preventative measures throughout our lifespan, we now have multiple clear pathways to reduce dementia risk.
What We’re Doing at Solidarity
At Solidarity, we believe that healthcare should be proactive, not reactive. As a Catholic healthcare sharing ministry, we are committed to offering our members a framework for whole-person health: body, mind, and soul.
This means:
- Encouraging lifestyle habits that reduce vascular damage and inflammation
- Connecting members with providers who understand the root causes of chronic disease
- Promoting screenings and early interventions for hypertension, hearing loss, vision problems, and high LDL cholesterol
- Fostering spiritual and social connection to combat isolation and depression
- Supporting mental health services that address trauma, depression, and substance misuse
- Educating our members about environmental and metabolic risk factors contributing to neurodegeneration
Where We Go from Here
This latest Lancet report reaffirms a truth we hold dear at Solidarity: prevention is an act of love, not just for ourselves but for our families and communities. It is also an act of stewardship of our minds, our bodies, and the resources God has entrusted to us.
We encourage all our members and partners to use this month as a catalyst to take these steps to address the risk factors of dementia:
- Get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked
- Address any hearing or vision loss
- Participate in daily physical activity
- Stay socially engaged
- Avoid harmful substances
- And above all, stay spiritually anchored
We now know more than ever about how to protect the brain. Let’s take this knowledge and turn it into action.
In Solidarity,
- Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission, Livingston, Gill et al.The Lancet, Volume 404, Issue 10452, 572 – 628 ↩︎
