Understand the risk factors you can still change

Fourteen things are known to influence dementia risk, and most of them can be acted on. This free tool helps you see where yours stand, so you can take something specific to your clinician. Weighting comes from the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention (read the original paper), and our full method is published here — including what it cannot tell you.

14 modifiable risk factors

Population attributable fractions — Lancet Commission 2024

45%across a population
Hearing loss7%
High LDL cholesterol7%
Less education5%
Social isolation5%
Depression3%
Traumatic brain injury3%
Air pollution3%
Hypertension2%
Diabetes2%
Physical inactivity2%
Untreated vision loss2%
Smoking2%
Obesity1%
Excessive alcohol1%

These are population figures, not personal ones: they estimate how many dementia cases across a whole population might be avoided if a factor were eliminated everywhere. No individual reduces their own risk by 45%. Percentages are weighted to account for overlap between factors, so they sum to 45%. Source: Livingston et al., The Lancet 2024.

How it works

In a few minutes, you'll see how your modifiable factors stack up as a simple 0–100 burden index. It's not a diagnosis or a prediction — it's a structured snapshot you can use to guide conversation and change.

Step 1

Answer a focused questionnaire

About 5–7 minutes. No exact date of birth. Just the patterns that influence modifiable risk over decades.

Step 2

See your modifiable burden pattern

We combine your answers into a 0–100 index and domain scores, so you can see where your biggest levers might be.

Step 3

Use it to guide real-world changes

Take your results to your clinician and focus on one or two changes at a time — in blood pressure, lipids, movement, mood, or other factors that fit your context.

Profile
Modifiable risk
Modifiable burden
LowerTypicalHigher