Abstract
BackgroundThere are well established modifiable risk factors for late-life dementia. These risk factors account for over 30% of population attributable dementia risk and accrue over the lifespan. Young adults have the greatest potential to reduce their own risk for dementia. This study aimed to investigate what young Australian adults know about dementia and its risk factors, and further, how they estimated these risks.MethodsAn online survey promoted through various social media platforms was completed by 604 young Australian adults aged 18–44 years of age.ResultsSeventy percent of participants had a limited understanding of dementia (identifying cognitive or functional impairment), 25% had a good understanding, with 5% having no understanding. Twenty percent of respondents thought there were no modifiable risk factors for dementia. Less the half of participants agreed with two of the nine established dementia risk factors (hearing loss in midlife and education in early life), with over half of participants agreeing to the remaining seven risk factors. Females consistently judged the risks conferred by the nine established dementia risk factors to be higher than males. Those who were lonely judged the dementia risk conferred by loneliness to be higher than those who were not lonely; and smokers judged the dementia risk conferred by smoking to be less than non-smokers.ConclusionYoung adults have the greatest potential to change their dementia risk, and these findings show that there are important gaps in knowledge of dementia and its risk factors in this group.
Highlights
Dementia is characterised by progressive cognitive decline and functional impairments [1]
Despite there being no cure for dementia, there is robust evidence of modifiable risk factors such as hypertension and smoking, which account for 30–50% of cases [2, 4, 5]
Empirical knowledge of dementia risk factors needs to be translated into targeted public health strategies and campaigns
Summary
Dementia is characterised by progressive cognitive decline and functional impairments [1]. Misconceptions and stigma impact the public’s understanding of dementia and their willingness to accept empirically supported risk factor information [6,7,8]. Empirical knowledge of dementia risk factors needs to be translated into targeted public health strategies and campaigns. The first step is to understand what the public already know about risk factors, how they judge these risks, and what individual differences are associated with these risk judgements. This process is similar to what occurred for skin cancer in the 1980s: knowledge that sun exposure increased the risk of skin cancer, which. There are well established modifiable risk factors for late-life dementia. This study aimed to investigate what young Australian adults know about dementia and its risk factors, and further, how they estimated these risks
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