Table 1 Assessment of potentially modifiable risk factors in Brain Health Services

Education

- International Standard Classification of Education (applicable across educational systems) [34]

- Years of education (simple to calculate) [34]

Lifetime traumatic brain injury

- Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (ideal) [35]

- Medical history or informant or self-reported reports (practical)

Hypertension

- Ambulatory devices (ideal)

- Domestic device (practical)

Defined as in-office measures at 140/90 and lower in ambulatory or home-based assessments [36].

Alcohol consumption

- Quantity-frequency measures with beverage-specific assessment of time frames and binge-drinking episodes [37] (ideal)

- > 21 units per week to define high risk (more practical)

Obesity and visceral adipose tissue

- Waist circumference (ideal)

- Body mass index (practical)

Note: There are different ways to measure waist circumference and different cut-offs depending on ethnicity and world region [38].

Hearing impairment

- Pure tone audiometry [39] (gold standard)

- Whispered Voice Test (simple but less reliable)

- Speech-in-noise paradigms (simple but less reliable)

- Questionnaires (less reliable)

Diabetes

- Fasting plasma glucose levels (> = 7.0 mmol/l) or HbA1c (> = 6.5%)

- Oral glucose tolerance test to diagnose impaired glucose tolerance [40].

Smoking

- Pack years (number of daily packs multiplied by number of years smoking)

- Current smoking status (current versus former/never smoker)

Air pollution

- Further research is needed to establish a practical clinically relevant measure.

Depression

- Depression screening measures, e.g., Patient-Health-Questionnaire (PHQ) [41].

Social isolation

- Short questionnaires, e.g., the Lubben Social Network Scale [42] or the Duke Social Support Index [43].

Physical inactivity

- Accelerometers [44]

- Heart rate counters [44]

- Smart phone or smart watch apps [44]

- Self-reported measures (more practical for clinical setting)