People With This Are Up To 2X Less Likely To Develop Dementia

When it comes to health in the United States, you may say that bone density isn't one of our strengths. In 2010, approximately 10 million Americans aged 50 and over had osteoporosis, according to the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Over 43 million more had low bone mass. 

Both dementia and osteoporosis patients are at an increased risk of fracture, but dementia patients also have a higher risk of falling (and dire consequences as a result of that fall). Case in point: The six-month mortality rate in end-stage dementia patients1 that sustain a hip fracture is 55%, compared to 12% in cognitively healthy individuals. 

While scientists have noticed associations between bone loss and dementia for a long time, researchers determined that bone density is indeed a risk factor for dementia in a prospective population-based cohort study published in Neurology this month. 

How bone density impacts dementia risk

Over 3,500 participants from the Rotterdam Study that did not have dementia between 2002 and 2005 were given a bone mineral density (BMD) test at the femoral neck, lumbar spine, and total body and a trabecular bone score test up until January 2020. 

Approximately 19% of the participants developed dementia during the follow-up period. Participants with lower BMD at the femoral neck were 12% more likely to develop dementia and 14% more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Within the first 10 years following the baseline assessment, scientists found that participants in the lowest tertile of bone mineral density (specifically, those with the lowest femoral neck BMD, total body BMD, and trabecular bone scores) were most likely to develop dementia. 

More research is needed to see if bone mineral density helps protect individuals from developing dementia, but we hypothesize that vitamin D might have something to do with it. 

The link between vitamin D status, bone mineral density & dementia risk