New research results reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® 2025 (AAIC®) advanced scientific understanding of risk, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
This year’s conference in Toronto attracted nearly 19,000 registered attendees and included more than 6,400 scientific submissions.
“AAIC is a cornerstone event for Alzheimer’s researchers—and for everyone committed to a future without Alzheimer’s and dementia,” said Anthony Marino, regional vice president of the Alzheimer’s Association New York City Chapter. “As the world’s leading nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research, the Association recognizes that the discoveries shared at this conference are vital to deepening our understanding of the disease, reducing risk, and supporting caregivers.”
Here are eight major takeaways from this year’s conference:
- Two lifestyle interventions in the U.S. POINTER clinical trial improved cognition in older adults at risk of cognitive decline. Both interventions focused on increasing physical activity, improving nutrition, cognitive and social challenge, and health monitoring. These positive results underscore the message that healthy behavior has a powerful impact on brain health and encourage us to look at the potential for a combination of a lifestyle program and drug treatment as the next frontier in the fight against cognitive decline and possibly dementia.
- The Alzheimer’s Association released its first evidence-based clinical practice guidelines on use of blood biomarker tests by specialists to assist in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The guidelines – aimed at a variety of specialists in settings like neurology, psychiatry, geriatrics and more who diagnose and evaluate cognitive impairment – provide rigorous, evidence-based recommendations for using these tests more confidently and consistently.
- Taking a combination of common drugs to treat blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes may slow cognitive decline, according to data from five studies. A study of more than 4,500 older adults showed cognitive test scores similar to people three years younger for participants who took a combination of drugs targeting vascular or metabolic conditions like high cholesterol or blood pressure, all of which are known risk factors for dementia.
- Lead in the atmosphere and environment may be linked to memory problems 50 years later, based on a study of more than 600,000 people. Researchers tracked how exposure to airborne lead from 1960-1974 — when leaded gasoline use was at its highest — impacted brain health later in life. The report estimated that half the U.S. population at that time, more than 170 million people, were exposed to high lead levels in early childhood. While leaded gas has long been phased out, other sources of exposure remain, such as old lead paint, pipes and industrial pollution. Experts say people who had past lead exposure should focus on reducing other risk factors for dementia, including managing high blood pressure, quitting smoking and avoiding social isolation.
- People with a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease may benefit the most from healthy lifestyle interventions like walking, according to a decade of data from three large international studies. Older adults who carry the Alzheimer’s risk gene known as APOE4 had higher cognitive benefits from non-drug interventions like exercise, diet and cognitive training than non-carriers. In this study, walking was found to be the most effective healthy habit for slowing down cognitive damage. Like many healthy lifestyle changes, the key was making it a habit, as the study showed that sticking with it for at least two years produced cognitive benefits up to seven years later.
- While newly available anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s disease drugs have shown effectiveness in tightly controlled clinical trials, they have not been tested in real-world settings until now. Dozens of abstracts reported at AAIC 2025 showed that real world experience with the drugs lecanemab and donanemab produced comparable or better safety to large clinical trials, and patients were satisfied with the results.
- People who participated in the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) had slower cognitive decline over 10 years than non-participants, according to new research reported at AAIC 2025. Scientists compared participants in SNAP, which helps low-income individuals and families buy food, to those who were eligible for the program but didn’t participate. They found that SNAP participants had a 0.10% slower decline in overall cognitive function, adding up to an estimated two to three additional years of cognitive health over the study’s 10-year period.
- New research announced at AAIC 2025 shed light on crucial differences between men and women in risk for Alzheimer’s and other diseases that cause dementia. One study found that traumatic brain injuries (TBIs, a well-known risk factor for dementia) were more likely to shrink dementia-related areas of the brain in women than men. Another looked closer at “chemobrain” — declines in thinking and memory reported by about one-third of women receiving breast cancer chemotherapy. Women make up nearly two-thirds of the more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s. The chemobrain study is the first to show that brain changes, inflammation and shrinkage related to the cancer treatment are connected to symptoms like memory lapses and trouble focusing or finding words. The study adds to growing evidence that chemotherapy impacts brain health.
