Liu CC, Sun Y, Kung SF, et al. - Researchers investigated how the incidence of dementia could be influenced by physical and social environments, by performing a population-based case-control study in Taiwan. Participants were identified from National Health Insurance claims, and included 26,206 incident cases with dementia aged ≧ 65 years in 2010, with the same no. of controls. After controlling for individual as well as other environmental features, a significant decrease of 12% in the odds ratios of dementia was reported in regions with higher availability of playgrounds and sport venues. An 8% reduced odds for dementia was also noted in significant correlation with community center availability, but the link lost its significance following further consideration of individual-level characteristics. Overall, different impacts of specific physical and social environmental characteristics on dementia risk were indicated. For averting the development of dementia, public health interventions may take these environmental aspects into account.