Recent research has identified independent predictors of dementia to include age at diagnosis, transient ischemic attack and stroke status, and years of education, with vascular factors playing a greater role in disease pathogenesis than previously thought. The findings were presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). In the abstract, the researchers wrote that dementia encompasses a broad set of neurologic diseases, producing progressive declines in memory and/or thinking faculties, sometimes alongside personality and emotional disturbances. "Worldwide, approximately 35.6 million people have dementia, and this number is only expected to grow due to an aging population," they wrote. "Unfortunately, it is exceedingly difficult to predict who will develop dementia, let alone what type. This makes it difficult to mobilize various preventive strategies supported by mounting evidence."