16 July 2026, Luxembourg - Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an updated version of its guidelines on the risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia. The guidelines, to which Alzheimer Europe contributed, provide recommendations to support dementia risk reduction as an essential public health strategy. Given the absence of widely available curative treatments for dementia, reducing exposure to modifiable risk factors remains one of the most promising avenue for prevention.
The updated guidelines reiterate the considerable potential for dementia risk reduction at both population and individual levels and aim to provide health-care professionals with the tools needed to integrate risk reduction into everyday practice. They also support policy-makers and other stakeholders in strengthening prevention efforts and incorporating dementia risk reduction into policies, services and programmes. Building on the first edition published in 2019, the updated guidelines reflect the substantial expansion of the evidence base over recent years. Alongside recommendations to promote healthy behaviours and manage health conditions associated with increased dementia risk, they introduce guidance on reducing exposure to environmental risk factors and implementing tailored multidomain interventions. The guidelines also highlight areas where evidence remains insufficient and further research is needed.
The development of the updated guidelines involved a large number of European and international stakeholders with expertise concerning the respective risk factors. Evidence for individual risk factors was generated through systematic literature reviews and evaluated using the rigorous Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. This framework assesses the quality of existing evidence based on the consistency of findings and the quality of the included studies. The updated guidelines were subsequently developed by a panel of experts in clinical practice, research, health policy and guideline development, alongside people with lived experience.
Following this approach, the guidelines recommend a range of interventions that promote healthy lifestyles, with the certainty of evidence ranging from very low to moderate or high. These include engagement in cognitive, social and physical activities, smoking cessation, reducing harmful alcohol use and participation in multidomain lifestyle interventions. The guidelines also recommend adopting a healthy, balanced dietary pattern, while advising against the use of nutritional supplements for dementia risk reduction.
The guidelines further include recommendations on the management of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and hearing loss, with certainty of evidence ranging from very low to low or moderate. In addition, they recommend against the use of menopausal hormone therapy for dementia risk reduction. At the population level, reducing exposure to household air pollution is recommended.
For several risk factors, the current evidence was considered insufficient to support formal recommendations. These include the management of depression, stroke, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, sleep-related factors and HIV.
Alzheimer Europe welcomes the publication of the WHO’s updated guidelines and the comprehensive review of the available evidence underpinning them. In line with its longstanding commitment to promoting dementia risk reduction and prevention, Alzheimer Europe calls on national governments and European institutions to strengthen efforts to incorporate dementia risk reduction and prevention into public health policy and practice.
Download the guidelines, here: https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/ea44b7f6-b09f-4e6f-b8c7-2e5b0fcc9a99/content
