A brief update on dementia prevention.

A large number of published overview and original articles provide evidence and declare the need for immediate, appropriate preventive lifestyle measures to prevent the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, despite this, there are great difficulties in drafting effective guidelines in this field. This is mainly due to a lack of not only (comparable) randomized controlled trials but also a lack of homogeneous measures of type and degree of managed risk. Several risk factors for dementia are non-modifiable, such as genes and age. Factors related to lifestyle habits and vascular risk factors are classified as modifiable risk factors. While waiting for effective drug therapies and first-level evidence data, geriatricians, general practitioners, neurologists, and health professionals should be encouraged to improve early diagnosis of cognitive impairment and activate control strategies against vascular disease and unhealthy lifestyle habits.