King's College London Study Links Dementia Vaccine to 220,000 UK Residents

A UK study on the dementia vaccine question found that biological age may help identify people at risk of dementia before symptoms appear. Julian Mutz, the lead author at King’s College London, said the findings could support prevention strategies based on a simple blood test.

The research analyzed data from over 220,000 UK residents, and nearly 4,000 developed dementia during the study period. Participants whose biological age was higher than their chronological age were more likely to receive a diagnosis.

King's College London findings

Mutz said, “Our findings suggest that biological aging data can help identify individuals at risk of dementia before clinical symptoms emerge.” The study was published Wednesday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

He added, “By combining genetic factors with potentially modifiable factors captured in biological aging, we may be able to develop preventative strategies, potentially based on a simple blood test.”

Alzheimer's & Dementia publication

The age gap link was more pronounced for vascular dementia, where the risk was 60% greater. About 16% of participants had a 20% greater risk of dementia because they had an age gap greater than one standard deviation from the mean.

People with older biological ages and two copies of APOE4 were 10 times more likely to develop dementia. The study adds another piece to a question clinicians already face with older patients, since age is the greatest known risk factor for dementia.

Biological age and APOE4

The findings point to a possible way to flag risk earlier in large populations, including by using metabolite-based aging clocks that the article says date back at least a decade. For readers tracking their own risk, the practical takeaway is simple: the study does not describe a treatment, but it does point to an earlier screen that could be paired with genetic data in future prevention work.