PhD conferral Mr Kay Deckers, MSc.

“The role of lifestyle factors in primary prevention of dementia; an epidemiological perspective”

Keywords: dementia, prevention, lifestyle, awareness, brain health

This dissertation attempts to provide more insight into the primary prevention of dementia by investigating the role of changing risks and protective factors of dementia in the general population. Various literature and analytic studies were used for this dissertation, which led to the development of a promising and innovative tool for dementia prevention. The results reveal that a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of dementia at a later age. This applies in particular for middle-aged people. The findings were directly applied to the MijnBreincoach project, a brain coaching project that was recently launched in Limburg. The purpose of the project is increase awareness of brain health.