Early-Onset Dementia Diagnoses Are Up 200% — How (& When) To Protect Your Brain

When an individual is diagnosed with dementia before the age of 65, it's classified as early-onset dementia, aka young-onset dementia. Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is also defined as early-onset or young-onset Alzheimer's disease when it's diagnosed before the age of 65. (For the sake of clarity, I will refer to both forms collectively as "early-onset dementia" throughout this article.)

According to data from the 2017 BCBS health index, the number of commercially insured U.S. adults between the ages of 30 and 64 diagnosed with early-onset dementia increased 200% from 2013 to 2017.

While population growth and aging baby boomers are often touted as the main cause of increasing dementia diagnoses, these shocking statistics show that age isn't the defining factor of dementia cases. Indeed, dementia is cropping up in younger demographics— just look at this recent case study of a 19-year-old Chinese male with a probable Alzheimer's diagnosis. 

Unsurprisingly, early-onset dementia diagnoses can be difficult for doctors to spot unless the patient has a genetic predisposition to dementia or Alzheimer's disease. As such, misdiagnoses are common.

The biggest cause of early-onset dementia is genetics. According to a 2020 review from the Lancet, excessive alcohol usage and traumatic brain injury1 (TBI) are two major risk factors for early-onset dementia as well. 

Though you can't change your genetics, there are a number of things you can do to prevent your risk of developing dementia (both early-onset and late-onset). Monitoring your alcohol intake and protecting your brain from TBI (i.e., by wearing a helmet during contact sports and a seat belt in the car) are a good place to start.