Men with cardiovascular disease risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and smoking may have brain health decline, leading to dementia, 10 years earlier than women, finds a study on Wednesday.

The findings of a long-term study, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, showed that men with cardiovascular disease risk factors can have dementia onset a decade earlier -- from their mid-50s to mid-70s -- than similarly affected women who are most susceptible from their mid-60s to mid-70s.