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Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Abbiategrasso Brain Bank Protocol for Collecting, Processing and Characterizing Aging Brains
Published on: June 3, 2020
Reevaluating the role of biological aging in dementia: A retrospective cross-sectional global analysis incorporating
Wenpeng You1, Fung Kuen Koo2, Yanfei Ge3
1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia; Adelaide Nursing School, the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; School of Biomedicine, the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
Background:
Biological aging is a key dementia risk factor, but its precise role is debated. This study explores the impact of life expectancy at birth (LEB) on global dementia incidence rates (DIR).
Methods:
A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted using population-level data from the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Pearson's r and nonparametric correlations assessed associations, while partial correlation analysis and multiple regression models were employed to adjust for confounders, including economic affluence, genetic predisposition (Ibs), total fertility rate, and urbanization.
Results:
LEB showed a strong initial correlation with DIR, explaining 58.05 % of the variance. However, after adjusting for confounders, the independent contribution of LEB to DIR was reduced to 5.95 %. Total fertility rate emerged as the most significant predictor, with LEB being the second strongest. Economic affluence, Ibs, and urbanization were not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
This study challenges the view that dementia is solely due to biological aging. While age remains crucial, biological aging accounts for less than 6 % of dementia incidence variance, highlighting the multifaceted nature of dementia risk factors.
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