1/3的阿尔茨海默症可预防

One in three cases of Alzheimer's disease worldwide is preventable, according to research from the University of Cambridge.

剑桥大学的一项研究显示，1/3的阿尔茨海默症病例是可以预防的。

The main risk factors for the disease are a lack of exercise, smoking, depression and poor education, it says.

Previous research from 2011 put the estimate at one in two cases, but this new study takes into account overlapping risk factors.

Alzheimer's Research UK said age was still the biggest risk factor.

Writing in The Lancet Neurology, the Cambridge team analysed population-based data to work out the main seven risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

These are: 

 Diabetes

 Mid-life hypertension

 Mid-life obesity

 Physical inactivity

 Depression

 Smoking

 Low educational attainment

They worked out that a third of Alzheimer's cases could be linked to lifestyle factors that could be modified, such as lack of exercise and smoking. 

The researchers then looked at how reducing these factors could affect the number of future Alzheimer's cases.

They found that by reducing each risk factor by 10%, nearly nine million cases of the disease could be prevented by 2050.

In the UK, a 10% reduction in risk factors would reduce cases by 8.8%, or 200,000, by 2050, they calculated.

Current estimates suggest that more than 106 million people worldwide will be living with Alzheimer's by 2050 - more than three times the number affected in 2010.