Dementia Race Insights

While there are no drugs that can cure Alzheimer’s disease, there are a number of drug treatments which can help treat symptoms and slow progression of the condition.

The main class of such compounds is the cholinesterase inhibitors.

Sometimes people may opt to use drugs which control some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, such as sleeplessness or agitation.

Nor-drug treatments, including practical and emotional support, are equally important and effective.

Yes. In the UK, around two in every three (65%) people with dementia are female and around one in three (35%) are male.

This is mostly because women tend to live longer than men and, as dementia becomes more common as we age, there are more women to develop the condition.

Research is underway to investigate whether men and women may have different risk factors for the condition.

There is some evidence that a head injury may increase the risk of dementia, however, more research needs to be done to understand how it might affect someone. When thinking about dementia risk it is also important to look at the whole picture, because there are many

There is currently no cure for dementia.

There are currently no survivors

Despite this, people can still experience a good quality of life after diagnosis.

Research is vital to discovering prevention and cures for dementia.

Currently there is no cure for dementia.

Huge strides have been made in understanding how different diseases cause damage in the brain and so produce dementia. And with increased funding over the past few years, there are now many more research studies and clinical trials taking place.

Although a cure may be some years away, there are some very promising advances.

There is not yet enough evidence to suggest this and there has not been a lot of research to investigate the link between dementia and MS.

Here is a link form the MS society that talks about the link and why it should not worry people with MS.

Diet can influence four of the twelve modifiable risk factors including obesity, hyper tension, diabetes and excessive alcohol consumption.

Race Against Dementia Fellow, Dr Pradeep Manuneedhi Cholan’s research focuses on the link between dementia and the gut microbiome.

Lack of funding. Dementia research is severely underfunded compared to other major diseases, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and even COVID-19.

The incorrect belief that dementia only affects older people adds to this underfunding.

Conflicting theories about the cause. The human brain is extremely complex, and dementia is caused by hundreds of complex diseases of the brain.

Clinical trials based on theories involving beta-amyloid and tau proteins hold promise, it will take funding and time to investigate them.

It’s not simply one disease. Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia may be in fact a collection of diseases, which may have different causes and therefore, different treatments and cures.