Research into the brain health of young adults needs to be increased in order to prevent future cases of dementia, Irish researchers have emphasised.

According to a team from the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at Trinity College Dublin, research on risks to brain health continue to focus on middle-aged and older adults despite the fact that early detection and management of risk factors is the best way to prevent neurodegenerative changes that cause clinical dementia in later life.

This has resulted in a “knowledge gap” about brain health in young adults that spans over 20 years.

The GBHI team pointed out that young adults – those born between 1981 and 2004 - account for over 30% of the world’s population and they have “unique characteristics and contexts”.

“Young adults are often more technologically enabled than older adults, for example, so they are particularly amenable to health promoting technologies. They have lived through a global recession and face unemployment rates 2-3 times higher than the population average, which has implications for their brain health,” the researchers said.

However, they noted that quantifying the prevalence of risk factors for dementia among young adults “is important but neglected”. They insisted that more data on adults aged 18-39 is needed, noting that “much of our current knowledge comes from cohorts born nearly 100 years ago”.

A bigger focus on younger adults could uncover new risks and protective factors, they said. They pointed out that many risk factors, including obesity, smoking and head injuries, begin accumulating in young adulthood.

Associations between oestrogen and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease also suggest a need to explore the effects on brain health of older age at childbirth, an increasing use of IVF and early menopause.

“If we are to truly change the narrative around brain health and dementia prevention, the story must resonate with the next generation. That’s why we need to reframe, co-produce and amplify the life course brain health message with young adults,” commented GBHI deputy executive director, Prof Brian Lawlor.

The GBHI team said that gathering more data on young adults will require researchers across multiple disciplines to add brain health measures, such as cognitive and mental health outcomes, to existing studies, along with lifestyle and environmental exposures.

Sustained investment in large interventional trials is also required.

They suggested that community-based services for managing brain health provide new opportunities for early risk profiling and communication. This will generate large amounts of data to advance understanding of the epidemiology of dementia and the efficacy of interventions.

 "Millennials and Generation Z are already shouldering the climate change catastrophe and now another economic recession. Fostering brain health awareness, strengthened with empirical evidence to support their current and future brain health is of the utmost importance,” added Dr Laura Booi, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at GBHI.

The researchers highlighted this issue in an editorial published in the British Medical Journal. It can be viewed here.