Data-driven Dementia Prevention (2026)

Dementia is already presenting us as a society with major challenges: the burdens on those affected and their families are heavy, expenditure on the healthcare system and on care is high and the direct and indirect costs for the economy are enormous. There is as yet no causal treatment or cure for dementia but preventive measures have immense potential for alleviating the burden of the disease. The research findings are unequivocal: many cases of dementia are attributable to modifiable risk factors. Reducing these factors lowers both the risk of developing dementia and its severity. Some indicators can point to an increased risk of dementia as long as 20 to 30 years before onset of the condition.

This statement summarises the current state of our knowledge about the prevention of dementia. A data-driven approach will in future make it possible to make fuller use of the potential of prevention, while putting technology and data to better use will enable both individualised behavioural prevention and a social framework configured to promote health (structural prevention). The statement offers some approaches to putting this into practice, addressing, among other things, not only the crucial part played by data availability but also open research questions. Effective prevention measures require an updated policy framework, in particular long-term funding and greater interministerial cooperation. Dementia prevention must be seen as part of an overall strategy for disease prevention and health promotion.