Study Finds Your Neighborhood Is a Factor in Your Dementia Risk

What affluent people do differently that helps the brain

Your neighborhood is a factor in your dementia risk, researchers find. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

An Australian study of nearly 5,000 people found that those who lived in wealthier suburbs scored significantly higher on memory tests and lower on dementia risk tests than those who were less affluent.

As the nation’s second leading cause of death, there has been a concerted effort to understand and identify risk factors for dementia. These include factors that cannot be changed, such as age and genetics and those that can be modified, including diet and lifestyle.