Abstract The increasing number of dementia cases has determined a growing interest in prevention, with a specific focus on modifiable risk factors (MRFs). In this context, cognitive reserve (CR) may have a role in moderating the association between pathology and neurological symptoms and in buffering the effects of unhealthy MRFs on the clinical manifestations of dementia. The present study was aimed to cluster sub-groups of patients at risk of cognitive decline based on their MRFs and CR with k-means analysis. As a secondary analysis, we described the identified clusters from different perspectives, i.e., socio-demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, and mental health. The analysis revealed two clusters, which were composed by 27 and 43 patients characterized by protective (Cluster 1) and unprotective (Cluster 2) everyday life habits, respectively. The two groups differed significantly in all the perspectives we considered, in favour of Cluster 1. Such a finding is representative of a more positive individual wellbeing for people who adopt protective behaviours. In the field of dementia prevention, these results support the importance to intervene proactively and simultaneously in the management of multiple risk factors during the entire lifespan.
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Bernini et al. (2024) studied this question.
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