WHO issues 2nd edition dementia guidelines

The World Health Organization published the executive summary of the second edition of its guidelines on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia on September 2, updating recommendations first issued in 2019. The agency said the revised guidance reflects newer evidence and is meant for adults without dementia, including people with normal cognition and those with mild cognitive impairment. WHO framed the update around a life-course approach, saying dementia risk reduction should be addressed across adulthood and older age, not only late in life. ### When did WHO release the update, and what exactly changed? The executive summary was posted on WHO’s publications site on September 2, 2026, under the identifier B09867. WHO’s overview says it replaces the 2019 executive summary and presents the key recommendations from the second edition of the guideline. The full second-edition guideline was published earlier, on July 15, 2026. WHO said that longer document reflects “the considerable growth of the evidence base” since 2019 and expands the scope of guidance on dementia risk reduction. (who.int) ### Who are the new guidelines meant to cover? WHO said the recommendations apply to adults without dementia, including people with normal cognition and people with mild cognitive impairment. (who.int) The agency said the document is intended for health-care providers, policy-makers and other stakeholders working to integrate dementia risk reduction into services, programs and public policy. The 2026 guideline also says dementia risk reduction should be treated as a public health strategy because curative treatment is not widely available. (who.int) That framing appears in WHO’s July 15 news release and in the publication overview for the full guideline. ### What does WHO mean by a “life-course” approach? WHO said the second edition adopts a life-course perspective on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. (who.int) In the agency’s description, that means interventions are not limited to old age and instead span healthy behaviors, management of health conditions and other exposures across adulthood. The July 15 WHO news release said updated recommendations are intended to help countries “prevent or delay the onset of dementia across the life course.” In the same release, WHO said up to 45% of dementia risk could be prevented or delayed. (who.int) ### What kinds of risk-reduction measures are in the new edition? WHO said the second edition addresses interventions to promote healthy behaviors and lifestyles, manage health conditions associated with increased dementia risk, reduce exposure to environmental risk factors and implement tailored multidomain interventions. (who.int) The full guideline overview says those environmental and multidomain elements are additions to the expanded scope of the 2026 edition. (who.int) Physical activity remains part of the evidence base behind the recommendations. A WHO evidence-profile annex linked to the guideline includes a section assessing whether physical activity interventions are more effective than usual care or no intervention in reducing the risk of cognitive decline or dementia in adults with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment. (who.int) ### How does this compare with the 2019 version? The 2019 WHO guideline already focused on modifiable risk factors across the life course and said cognitive decline is not an inevitable consequence of ageing. The 2026 edition keeps that broad direction but updates the recommendations with newer evidence and a wider scope, according to WHO’s publication records. WHO’s current dementia topic page now points readers to the second-edition guideline, while the 2019 first edition remains archived on the organization’s publications platform. (cdn.who.int) The executive summary posted on September 2 and the full guideline published on July 15 are both available through WHO’s publications and IRIS library pages. (who.int) (iris.who.int)