Population attributable fractions for risk factors and disability burden of dementia in Jiangxi Province, China: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: In view of the fact that there is no effective treatment for dementia, the number of years that dementia patients have to live with dementia will gradually increase for the rest of their lives, and the disability loss caused by dementia will increase. It is urgent to study the influence of risk factors on dementia by making use of the potential of prevention. The purpose of this study is to quantify the burden of dementia disability attributable to risk factors by assessing the population attributable fractions (PAFs) in Jiangxi Province, which is one of the regions of moderate aging process of China. METHODS: The prevalence data of nine risk factors were obtained through the Sixth National Health Service Survey in 2018, which covered 2713 older people. Levin’s formula was used to calculate the PAF for each risk factor for dementia. We adjusted the PAF for communality between risk factors, and used these values to calculate overall weighted PAFs and the years lived with disability (YLDs), which were attributable to nine risk factors. RESULTS: The number of dementia cases and their proportions that can theoretically be prevented by nine identified risk factors were 111636 (99595-120877) and 66.8% (59.6-72.3), respectively. The total YLDs of dementia were estimated to be 61136 (46463-78369) (males: 36434 [24100-49330], females: 23956 [14716-34589]). Physical inactivity (11639 [8845-14920]), low social contact (9324 [7086-11952]), and hearing loss (5668 [4307-7265] were the top three contributors to dementia. CONCLUSIONS: The moderate aging areas represented by Jiangxi Province have great potential in the prevention of dementia. Targeted interventions and management of risk factors can effectively reduce the disability burden of dementia. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03507-4.