Prevention of cardiovascular diseases and dementia: the emerging role of air pollution, socioeconomic factors, e-cigarettes, new biomarkers, proteomics, and genetics.

Introduction:
This text provides an overview of a study examining the relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and dementia. The study aims to develop a risk score to identify high-risk individuals who would benefit from early intervention.

Key Points:

* The study used data from two prospective cohorts of the Danish general population, including 61,500 individuals.
* The authors generated 10-year absolute risk scores for all-cause dementia from cardiovascular risk factors and genetics.
* The 10-year absolute risk of all-cause dementia increased with age, number of apolipoprotein E (APOE) E4 alleles, number of genome-wide association study (GWAS) risk alleles, and cardiovascular risk factors.
* The highest risks were seen in female smokers with diabetes, low education, APOE E44 genotype, and 22-31 GWAS risk alleles.
* The authors conclude that the risk charts will facilitate identification of high-risk individuals for targeted prevention.

Main Message:
The study highlights the importance of addressing cardiovascular risk factors to prevent dementia. The risk charts developed in this study will help identify high-risk individuals who would benefit from early intervention. Given the economic, social, and individual costs of dementia, prevention should be a priority for all those at risk, policy-makers, and clinicians.

Crea F. Prevention of cardiovascular diseases and dementia: the emerging role of air pollution, socioeconomic factors, e-cigarettes, new biomarkers, proteomics, and genetics. European heart journal. 2020;41(41):3969-3972. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa896