Because there are so many ways to get dementia, and the causes of many of them are not known, it is hard to know who is at risk. Important risk factors for irreversible dementia include:
- older age
- female sex
- family history of dementia
- head injury
- lack of mental engagement
- low education
- genetics (having a gene called APOE-e4 increases the risk of Alzheimer’s, while having a different gene, APOE-e2, reduces risk)
- poor heart health (may make vascular dementia more common)