Metabolic Syndrome Linked to Increased Risk for Young-Onset Dementia

THURSDAY, April 24, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its individual components are associated with an increased risk for young-onset dementia (YOD), according to a study published online April 23 in Neurology.

Jeong-Yoon Lee, M.D., from Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital in South Korea, and colleagues conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study using data from the Korean National Insurance Service to examine whether MetS, defined according to established guidelines, and its individual components increase the risk for YOD, defined as dementia diagnosis before age 65 years.

Data were included for 1,979,509 participants; 8,921 (0.45 percent) developed YOD during an average follow-up of 7.75 years. The researchers found that MetS was associated with an increased risk for all-cause YOD, Alzheimer disease, and vascular dementia (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.24, 1.12, and 1.21, respectively). There were significant interactions noted with younger age (40 to 49 versus 50 to 59 years), female sex, drinking status, obesity, and depression.

“Our findings suggest that lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking, and reducing stress, may help reduce the risk of young-onset dementia,” coauthor Minwoo Lee, M.D., Ph.D., of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital in Anyang, South Korea, said in a statement. “Future research that follows people over longer periods of time and uses brain scans to look for biomarkers of dementia is needed to confirm and expand upon our findings.”

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