Awareness of Modifiable Dementia Risk Factors Among Patients with Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Survey in a Southern Italian University Memory Clinic

Dementia is a global burden for patients, families and healthcare systems. Approximately 45% of dementia cases may potentially be prevented or delayed by acting on modifiable risk factors, but current prevention initiatives might not be effective in reaching all the at-risk subjects. In this pilot study, we aimed to assess awareness of mid- and late-life modifiable risk factors among SCD/MCI patients, conducting a cross-sectional in-person custom survey of 70 participants. The survey consisted of general questions on dementia knowledge, awareness of the modifiable dementia risk factors and actions to take to improve brain health. When asked whether dementia is caused by normal ageing, 56% of participants answered ‘yes’, while 41% believed that dementia risk can be reduced during the life course. When asked about specific risk factors, only 36% and 39% believed that hearing loss and vision loss, respectively, are potential risk factors. Among cardiovascular risk factors, smoking was perceived as a potential contributor to dementia by 53% of the patients, hypertension by 53%, diabetes by 56%, hypercholesterolemia by 46%, obesity by 49%, and physical inactivity by 59%. Higher awareness was perceived for psycho-social risk factors: depression is considered a risk factor by 69% and social isolation by 73% of the population. The vast majority (96%) of the population was willing to receive more information on how to improve brain health. In conclusion, in this memory-clinic cohort, awareness of several modifiable risk factors was low; patients expressed strong interest in guidance. Findings support further evaluation of targeted dementia risk education within memory services; larger, multi-site studies using validated tools are warranted.