A Dutch long-term study has found that women face a higher lifetime risk of dementia, stroke or Parkinson’s disease than men, with researchers pointing to preventable health factors as a major part of the picture.
The work followed 12,000 people from Rotterdam University, all of them younger than 45 when the study began. Their health was tracked for 26 years to see how neurological disease developed over time.
Between 1990 and 2016, the researchers recorded 1,489 dementia diagnoses, 1,285 strokes and 263 Parkinson’s cases.
Overall, 48% of women in the study developed one of the three conditions, compared with 36% of men. Dementia was the most common illness among women, affecting 26% of them, while the figure for men was 14%. Stroke rates were similar across both sexes.
The analysis also found that people who developed these conditions were more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
Researchers said the risk could be cut by about a fifth if people adopted healthier habits while still in middle age. Their advice echoed wider public health guidance that links balanced eating, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol under control with lower dementia risk.
Dr James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the findings reinforced the long-standing view that women are at greater risk of dementia than men. He added that healthy lifestyle changes can significantly reduce that risk and said “it’s never too late” to make them.
Claire Bale, head of research communications at Parkinson’s UK, said Parkinson’s was expected to rise steeply to 170,000 by 2025 because of population growth and ageing. She also noted that, unlike dementia, women are at a slightly lower risk of Parkinson’s than men.
The study’s broader message was simple: lifestyle choices made in the 40s may shape health in later life.
