#156 Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline with Ganesh Babulal

As we've covered on the podcast, the world is heading toward a dementia crisis. The number of people living with dementia is projected to nearly triple by 2050, and low- and middle-income countries will be hit hardest.

But there is real hope for changing that trajectory: prevention.

The 2024 Lancet Commission estimates that nearly half of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors, including hearing loss, hypertension, physical inactivity, and social isolation. And our guest's research points to something striking: nearly half of individual differences in Alzheimer's risk may be attributable to environmental influences, and his own study found that walkability, green space, and light pollution were linked to cognitive performance regardless of biomarker status.

In this course, we'll talk with Ganesh Babulal, PhD, OTD, MSCI, MOT, OTR/L, FAOTA, about addressing those risk factors, recognizing cognitive decline early, and whether early intervention can slow, or in some cases even reverse, decline.

We'll close with a vision for a team approach to care, where public data on environmental risk is synced into the EMR, physicians recognize risk earlier, and a therapy referral helps mitigate that risk before problems arise.

See full course details here:https://otpotential.com/continuing-education/course/risk-factors-for-cognitive-decline

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