A new study published this week found nearly half of women and one in three men are at risk of developing stroke and degenerative neurological diseases - like Parkinson's disease and dementia - in their lifetime. The Dutch researchers considered all these three to understand how "big the problem of incurable brain diseases in late life really is."

"We grouped these diseases together not only because they are common but also because there are indications that these often co-occur and might share some overlapping causes," said the study's senior author, Arfan Ikram, who's from the Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

That only means there's also overlapping ways to avoid or delay in acquiring these diseases. The researchers have discovered there are some preventive strategies wherein it could cut the risk by 20 and 50 percent.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, tracked more than 12,000 healthy people over the age of 45 starting the year 1990 until 2016. Over the past 26 years, 5,291 people died, 1,285 had a stroke, 263 developed Parkinson's, and roughly 1,500 were diagnosed with dementia - 80 percent with Alzheimer's disease.

The result suggested women who are aged 45 or older have 48 percent chance of getting the illnesses, while 36 percent for men. This gender split is likely because men are dying earlier than women, Ikram noted.

"Our study does not show some sort of protective effect for men," he said. "Instead it is merely due to fewer men surviving to old age."

Since women tend to live longer, they have an increased chance of developing such diseases, and they were twice as likely as men to develop both dementia and stroke. According to the South China Morning Post, about 7 percent of people over the age of 65 suffer from Alzheimer's or some form of dementia all over the world. This will rise to 40 percent above when they reach the age of 85.

Although there are no cures for these illnesses, Ikram advised a healthy lifestyle can protect against stroke and help prevent the onset of dementia - like having a good diet and not smoking or having diabetes. Additionally, there have been indications that a healthy lifestyle reduced the risk of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers noted that the cost of the three neurological diseases has been estimated to be more than 2 percent of the annual economic productivity (GDP) of the world. The dangers of other illnesses such as heart diseases and breast cancer are well known, however "the same can't be said of dementia, stroke, and Parkinsonism", the statement said.

Researchers also pointed out that the study only included people of European ancestry with a relatively long life expectancy. Hence, the results "might not be applicable to other ethnicities/populations".