2022). The neuroinflammation hypothesis suggests that chronic depression elevates brain inflammatory markers, leading to neuronal damage and an increased risk of dementia (Ly et al. 2023), and this has been supported by experimental evidence showing that IL‐6 and TNF‐α elevations accelerate neuronal apoptosis and cognitive deficits in animal models (Diniz 2018; S. Liu, Fan, et al. 2022). This evidence concerns the gene TNF and dementia.