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. 2025 Jan-Feb;42(1):215-220.
doi: 10.1111/phn.13450. Epub 2024 Oct 15.

Perspectives on the Dementia Public Health Exposome

Christine Noelle Flaherty  1 , Pam V O'Neal  2 , Patricia A Carter  3 , Lenora Smith  2 , Nancy Lerner  4 , Gwendolyn Hooper  5 , Jennifer R Bail  2
Affiliations

Perspectives on the Dementia Public Health Exposome

Christine Noelle Flaherty et al. Public Health Nurs. 2025 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Dementia is a public health concern in the aging population with an estimated 55 million people impacted globally. Public health initiatives that focus on minimizing dementia risk factors may support efforts to reduce the incidence of dementia in at-risk populations. Exposomics considers both modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for disease, including genetic changes with age and lifetime exposures to environmental, social, and behavioral risk factors. Dementia precursors may remain undetected for up to 20 years. An understanding and application of the dementia exposome may promote healthy brain interventions, screening, and risk mitigation. The proposed dementia public health exposome (DPHE) provides a framework for understanding and addressing the complex interactions between genetics, health behavior, and environment (natural, built, and social) linked to modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for dementia. The DPHE may be used to inform public health strategies and advancements in healthy brain initiatives.

Keywords: built environment; dementia; genetics; health behavior; natural environment; public health exposome; social environment.

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