About a year ago, Carol D’Souza’s 95-year-old mother passed away after a decade-long battle with dementia. The diagnosis had come as a shock to the family, residents of Bandra West, who were largely unfamiliar with the condition. She was one of 38,43,118 individuals in the country living with dementia in 2019, and like many other families, Carol and her loved ones are still at a loss for answers about the cause and why it happened.

The Lancet Commission’s latest report, released a few days ago, outlines 14 preventable risk factors for dementia. However, as Dr Pawan Ojha, a neurologist at Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, remarks, “We understand how dementia and Alzheimer’s disease occur, but we do not fully grasp why they happen. It’s likely we may never truly understand the underlying reasons.”