Study Explores How Infections Can Increase Your Risk of Dementia

Can getting the flu today put you at higher risk for dementia decades from now? That unnerving conclusion is one of several big takeaways from a study published earlier this year in the journal Nature Aging. “[W]e found that influenza, viral, respiratory and skin and subcutaneous infections were associated with increased long-term dementia risk,” the study’s authors wrote.

The Nature Aging study went beyond this alarming finding to explore just why these infections can affect the brain years or even decades later. The authors point to the ways that infections can spur “an acute inflammatory response or [reshape] the host immune system,” which can have an effect on the brain and nervous system. The scientists explored 15 different types of infection, and connected six of them with “brain volume loss.”

The scientists’ findings are disquieting, but could also help take measures to prevent dementia in the future. The National Institute on Aging’s Keenan Walker told The Washington Post‘s Richard Sima that the connection between infections and dementia “doesn’t seem to be specific to any type of infection.”

Walker also spoke about the importance of “responding to an infection with symptomatic care after they occur” and taking steps to prevent those infections before they occur — in other words, getting vaccinated.

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Preventing and treating infections aren’t the only variables in play here. The Post also cited a report issued earlier this year by The Lancet, which pointed to 14 factors they found contribute to 45% of dementia cases around the world. Those factors? “[L]ess education, hearing loss, vision loss, hypertension, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, air pollution, social isolation, and high LDL cholesterol.” Like many things, preventing dementia can involve taking a holistic view of things.