Environmental and genetic risk factors for dementia

Abstract Dementia is a neuropsychiatric disorder associated with a large economic and societal burden. The identification of genetic and environmental risk factors could lead to better understanding of the pathological mechanisms participating in the development of dementia and may facilitate the design of an effective prevention strategy. An umbrella review of meta-analyses indicated that type 2 diabetes mellitus, frequency of social contacts, physical activity, depression, and history of cancer are associated with risk for dementia. Also, genome-wide association studies identified about 20 genetic loci associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, but the genetic determinants of vascular dementia are less clear. In the present chapter, we discuss the recent advances from large-scale research efforts in the field of environmental and genetic epidemiology of dementia along with several challenges encountered in the epidemiological research for dementia.