As if people with anxiety don’t have enough to worry about, a new study is adding to that list — suggesting the disorder may nearly triple the risk of developing dementia years later.

The research, to the authors’ knowledge, is the first to look into the association between different severities of anxiety and dementia risk over time, and the effect of the timing of anxiety on this risk, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society(opens in a new tab).

“Anxiety can now be considered a non-traditional risk factor for dementia,” said Dr. Kay Khaing, lead study author and a specialist geriatrician at Hunter New England Health in Newcastle, Australia, via email.

More than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, a number expected to increase to 139 million by 2050. With the condition also being a leading cause of death, researchers and health professionals have directed their focus toward prevention, particularly by addressing risk factors such as anxiety or lifestyle habits.