This study examined the relationship between leisure activities and risk of dementia in a sample of healthy older individuals, dementia free at the beginning of the project. Data were drawn from a population-based longitudinal study (the Betula project) and the participants were followed up for 15 years. At baseline, participants were asked about their frequency of participation in 15 selected leisure activities. When age, gender, education, APOE and other potential confounders were controlled for, results revealed quite moderate effects on dementia after analysis of the activities separately. However, by weighting each activity into a mental, social and physical dimension (based on valuation by the participants), and then summarizing into a score for each dimension, we further investigated if level of engagement could predict impending dementia. Preliminary results indicate that the dimensions may have influence on the risk of dementia for certain age groups. The study also showed that the strongest predictor of dementia is being a carrier of the APOE ɛ4 allele. The outcomes are discussed in terms of important methodological difference between studies concerning the effects of leisure activities in preventing dementia diseases.