HealthDay (4/9, Thompson) reports a study found that “brain diseases like stroke, dementia and depression share common risk factors, and changing any can lower a person’s risk of all three conditions.” Researchers said that “at least 60% of strokes, 40% of dementia cases, and 35% of late-life depression diagnoses are linked to lifestyle-related risk factors.” They explained that addressing 17 modifiable risk factors “as varied as blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, physical activity, sleep, stress, alcohol consumption and smoking can significantly reduce risk of the three age-related brain diseases.” They concluded, “Because they share these overlapping risk factors, preventive efforts could lead to a reduction in the incidence of more than one of these diseases, which provides an opportunity to simultaneously reduce the burden of age-related brain diseases.” The study was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. (SOURCE: APA Headlines)