Clusters of dementia risk factors are distinctively associated with socioeconomic factors

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundFor effective dementia prevention, the understanding of the local population’s risk profile and its socioeconomic associations is mandatory. Our aim is to explore if there are clusters of dementia risk factors in Chilean adults and if they are associated with different socioeconomic variables.MethodDementia‐free subjects ≥45 years old, from the 2016‐2017 Chilean National Health Survey, were analyzed stratified by sex and age (midlife/ later life), searching for profiles of association of 6 variables that had been related with dementia risk (years of education, systolic blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, physical activity, and depressive symptoms).ResultWe found 3 clusters that shared similar risk factors in each sex/age group (Figure 1 Women, Figure 2 Men). There was a cluster with high systolic blood pressure (HSBP) generally associated with high BMI in all sex/age groups; A cluster with depressive symptoms, and a physically inactive cluster in ¾ of sex/age groups. In men later life, in addition there was a cluster with excessive alcohol consumption and in women midlife a low risk profile. The cluster with HSBP alone or with high BMI, had lower years of education and lower family income than the other clusters. In contrast, the physically inactive and the low risk clusters had higher levels of education, while the depressive cluster had variable association with educational levels. The HSBP and the depressive clusters had a high proportion of multimorbidity, with a very high burden of risk factors for dementia.ConclusionThe clusters of health conditions related with dementia risk in Chilean adults that are distinctively associated with socioeconomic variables.