Lifetime risk factors for cognitive and functional decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are not fully understood, and were prospectively evaluated in patients with low mean schooling from São Paulo, Brazil. Consecutive outpatients with late-onset AD were assessed for APOE haplotypes and the following potential baseline predictors: gender, schooling, age at dementia onset, lifetime urban living and sanitary conditions, occupational complexity, cognitive and physical activities, cerebrovascular risk factors (obesity, lifetime alcohol use and smoking, length of arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and a dyslipidemic profile), use of a pacemaker, creatinine clearance, body mass index, waist circumference, head traumas with unconsciousness, treated systemic bacterial infections, amount of surgical procedures under general anesthesia, and family history of AD. Participants were followed from October 2010 to May 2017 for baseline risk factor associations with time since dementia onset for Clinical Dementia Rating and Mini-Mental State Examination score changes. For 227 patients (154 women, 119 APOE ε 4 carriers), later AD onset (mean 73.60±6.4 years-old, earlier for APOE ε 4/ε 4 carriers, p