By Sam Blanchard Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 11:01 GMT, 20 March 2019 | Updated: 11:01 GMT, 20 March 2019
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Dementia rates in the Western world have fallen by 15 per cent every 10 years since 1988, according to reseach.
People improving their heart health and quitting smoking since the 80s is believed to have helped cut rates of the deadly brain degeneration.
But scientists warn growing rates of obesity are at risk of stopping this progress in its tracks.
They hope advancements in medications and healthier lifestyles will help to keep the numbers falling but said improvements 'may not continue for long'.
Dementia, a condition in which the brain becomes increasingly damaged and people's memory, thinking skills, and physical abilities are reduced, is expected to affect a million people in the UK by 2025 (stock image)
Researchers led by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studied almost 60,000 people to make their findings.
'Looking over three decades,' said Professor Albert Hofman, 'the incidence rate of dementia in Europe and North America seems to be declining by around 15 per cent per decade.
'This finding is more pronounced in men than women and is likely to be driven by changes in cardiovascular risk factors and lifestyle.'
Around 850,000 people in the UK currently have dementia, but this is expected to rise to one million by 2025. And about 5.8million Americans have the condition.
Professor Hofman's research tracked the 59,230 people between 1988 and 2015, and found 5,133 of them developed dementia.
Obesity is thought to
