Early detection of frailty may help reduce dementia risk

Early detection and treatment of frailty and pre-frailty, may help to reduce the risk of dementia, or delay its onset. New research, led by the University of Glasgow and published today in The Lancet Healthy Longevity , which analysed dementia data in UK Biobank, has found that frailty and pre-frailty accounted for almost 20% of dementia cases. As frailty may be preventable in many cases, researchers say that this new data suggests that early detection and treatment of this condition may in turn reduce the dementia burden attributable to frailty. In the UK, more than 850,000 people have dementia, while globally that figure is currently approximately 50 million. By 2050 however, scientists estimate that 152 million people worldwide will have dementia as populations grow older. However, recent reports have suggested that up to 40% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed, with frailty highlighted as a risk factor. This new Lancet study analysed the data from 143,215 UK Biobank participants, of which 68,500 (47·8%) were pre-frail and 5,565 (3·9%) were frail.