Those who receive an obesity diagnosis in mid-life have a higher chance of developing dementia in later life, a new study suggest.

University of Oxford researchers looked at hospital admission records for people with dementia and looked at when a diagnosis of obesity was recorded. They found that obese people between the ages of 30 to 39 had a 3.5 times higher chance of developing dementia. Those who received their diagnosis between their 40s and 60s had a higher risk of developing vascular dementia.

The risk drops if a person received an obesity diagnosis after age 70. The findings reflect what other published studies have observed, which is an increased risk of late-in-life dementia for the young obese. Scientists believe this may be associated with heavier weights leading to diabetes and cardiovascular problems.

Results were published August 20 in the Postgraduate Medical Journal.