---
title: Normal Blood Pressure, No Diabetes and No Smoking in Midlife Are Linked to 13 More Dementia-Free Years
description: A 26-year study of 12,409 Americans links normal blood pressure, no diabetes and no smoking in midlife to nearly 13 more years without dementia.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-06T01:19:25.677Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/midlife-risk-factors-13-dementia-free-years
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/midlife-dementia-risk-illustration-108576.webp
categories: Everyday Wellness
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Rich Health Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

People who reached their late sixties with normal blood pressure, no diabetes and no history of smoking went nearly 13 years longer without developing dementia than people who had all three of those risk factors. That is the finding of a study of 12,409 Americans, led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and published on August 5 in Neurology Open Access.

The participants were an average of 56 years old and free of dementia when they were assessed, and they were followed for an average of 26 years afterwards through the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, a community-based project running since 1986. In that time 3,008 of them developed dementia.

## Thirty Years Without Dementia for One Group, Seventeen for the Other

People with none of the three risk factors went an average of 30 years from the start of the study before developing dementia. People with all three went 17 years.

"Our findings argue that people need to actively avert these factors in midlife as a strategy for preserving brain health for more than a decade," said Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, the study's senior investigator and founding director of NYU Langone's Optimal Aging Institute.

## Women and White Participants Went Longer Without Dementia at Every Level of Risk

Among the participants who carried all three risk factors, women averaged 18.1 dementia-free years from the start of tracking, against 16.6 years for men. White participants in that same group averaged 19.6 years, against 16.0 years for Black participants. Both patterns held regardless of how many risk factors a person carried.

Coresh said the gap points to where prevention could do the most good. "These results suggest that vascular risk reduction may benefit all groups, but that certain populations, such as Black adults, may especially benefit from targeted prevention efforts," he said.

## The Study Shows an Association, Not a Cause

The researchers measured each person's blood pressure, diabetes status and smoking history once, and did not track how those changed over the decades that followed. They say the work shows an association between avoiding the three risk factors and more years without dementia, not that avoiding them caused the difference.

Blood pressure, diabetes and smoking are three of the 14 modifiable risk factors identified by the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia, which estimated that [45% of dementia cases could potentially be delayed or reduced](https://www.alzint.org/news-events/news/lancet-commission-identifies-two-new-risk-factors-for-dementia-and-suggests-45-of-cases-could-be-delayed-or-reduced/) by addressing all of them.

"Discovering new ways to delay dementia is crucial with 42 percent of Americans at risk for developing the condition at any time after age 55," Coresh said. "Hopefully, these results will encourage people to stop smoking and watch their vascular health closely from age 48 on."

## FAQ

**Q: What are the three midlife risk factors in this study?**
High blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, measured in participants who were tracked from age 48 to 68.

**Q: Does this study prove that avoiding these risk factors prevents dementia?**
No. The researchers say it shows an association between avoiding the three and more dementia-free years, not that avoiding them caused the difference. They also measured each risk factor only once, so changes over time were not captured.

**Q: What is the ARIC study?**
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, a community-based research project that began in 1986 and has followed its participants for decades. This analysis drew on 12,409 of them.