With the prevalence and burden of dementia worldwide, innovative approaches to mitigate the progression of cognitive symptoms are increasingly necessary. These approaches are known as multi-domain interventions, meaning that people are addressing multiple different aspects of a disease process. New research has found that lifestyle interventions that target multiple domains of an individual’s routine can help to potentially mitigate risk of dementia in at-risk adults aged 60-77.
Between 2015 and 2025, many clinical trials were published examining various different interventions with varied and improving results1. The evidence supports that implementing these approaches can help patients avoid progression of cognitive symptoms if initiated in a timely manner.
One recent study published in Lancet examines different approaches to lifestyle interventions in patients at risk for cognitive decline2. This study is based on the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), a methodology to multidomain interventions of cognitive impairment. This study is a single-blind, multicenter, randomized trial conducted across 11 Latin American countries in adults aged 60-77. Patients were enrolled if they were noted for having a high risk of dementia with indications that they are experiencing some form of mild cognitive impairment. Patients then received one of two multidomain interventions. The first is called a systematic lifestyle intervention (SLI), which involves a program of rigorous, highly structured, culturally relevant education, support, and accessible tools for implementing lifestyle practices that can improve cognition. The second is called the flexible lifestyle intervention (FLI) is a similar approach to the SLI, but is tailored to each person’s preferences.
The study found that both interventions led to cognitive improvements during the two-year course of the study across all demographics studied, and the interventions each led to manageable and expected rates of adverse events. Both interventions led to increases in global cognition composite scores (SLI=0.31 [95% CI=0.28-0.34]; FLI=0.20 [95% CI=0.17-0.23]). Notably, there was a statistically significant difference in the improvement between global cognition composition scores, with the SLI group experiencing greater rates of improvement (0.11, 95% CI=0.06-0.15, p<0.0001). There was also a statistically significant difference in the dropout rate between the SLI and FLI group, with more participants dropping out of the study in the FLI group (20.2% vs. 15.2%, p=0.042).
Taken together, this study shows that multi-domain interventions can lead to improvements in global cognition over two years, tolerably for patients. They also show the value in implementing a program that is relevant to specific cultures and audiences.
Sources
1Sakurai T, Sugimoto T, Arai H. Multidomain interventions for prevention of dementia: Achievements, challenges and future perspectives. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2025 Aug;25(8):1015-1034. doi:10.1111/ggi.70088
2Crivelli L, Suemoto CK, Sosa AL, et al. Multidomain lifestyle intervention for the prevention of cognitive decline in at-risk older adults in Latin America (LatAm-FINGERS): a single-blind, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. Published online July 13, 2026. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)01278-X
