Remember Remember Alzheimer's and Dementia

Dementia, a decline of our mental abilities, is a huge problem for our ageing population. Dementia can be caused by various conditions – the most common is Alzheimer’s disease. Over the last 5 years, increased investment in Alzheimer’s disease research has significantly improved our understanding of the disease. However, it remains the only disease out of the top 10 causes of death in the developed world without any form of treatment to slow it down. This talk will describe what happens to the brain in Alzheimer’s Disease, and explores whether there is hope in the search for new treatments.

Nearly half of UK adults say that dementia is the health condition they most fear going in to the future. Using brain imaging and by measuring biomarkers in blood we will soon be able to detect signs of dementia before the onset of clinical symptoms, like memory loss. But as yet, there are no drugs to cure or halt the progression of any form of dementia. Would you want to know that you had an increased risk of developing dementia? In this talk I will discuss progress in developing tests for dementia and drugs to treat the disease, as well as highlighting how you can keep your brain healthy?

Dementia doesn’t discriminate; while your genes and risk factors up your chances ultimately anyone can develop dementia. We haven’t found a cure but we make do with second best- raising awareness, changing lifestyles, encouraging early diagnosis and seeking help from places like memory clinics. But that doesn’t mean everyone gets the same help.

This talk will explore the impact of language and culture on dementia- whether it goes unrecognised, how testing and diagnosing it becomes biased, and how it can determine whether you get help or not and what that help might be.