PARIS: Addressing key risk factors such as smoking and air pollution could prevent or delay millions of dementia cases, according to a major new study published in The Lancet.

Dementia, a condition that impairs memory and cognitive abilities and affects over 55 million people globally, is primarily caused by diseases like Alzheimer's.

The study emphasizes the high potential for dementia prevention, building on a 2020 report that linked 40 percent of cases to 12 risk factors, including lower education, hearing issues, smoking, depression, physical inactivity, and air pollution.

The updated study adds vision loss and high cholesterol to make a total of 14 risk factors, indicating that nearly half of dementia cases could theoretically be prevented.

Although the U.S. has approved two Alzheimer's treatments, lecanemab and donanemab, their benefits are modest and come with severe side effects.

Researchers argue that preventing dementia through risk factor mitigation is more cost-effective than current high-tech treatments.

Despite existing public health programs, the elimination of risk factors remains challenging.

Experts stress that some dementia cases are unavoidable due to genetics and uncontrollable factors like childhood education opportunities, emphasizing that individuals should not be blamed for their condition.