Dementia has a growing public profile due to the renewed focus by the government and the increase in media coverage.
With one person being diagnosed with dementia every three minutes in the UK, there are over 850,000 in the UK living with the disease. This figure is estimated to rise to over 1million by 2025 and 2million by 2051.
Dementia is a massive public concern that costs the economy £26.3 billion each year. It is the only cause of death that is still on the rise. According to a recent YouGov study undertaken by the brain and mind experts at Re:Cognition Health, more people fear developing dementia than cancer and heart disease combined. https://recognitionhealth.com/yougov-survey/
What is dementia:
Dementia is a set of symptoms that affect memory, thinking and the ability to solve problems, eventually stripping away independence and the essence of who we are. Dementia is not a diagnosis, it’s merely a generic term that describes symptoms of memory and thinking ability. Dementia indicates a person is having progressive difficulty with a least two aspects of their cognition for example: memory, calculation ability, learning new skills, concentrating, making decisions and the level of this cognitive impairment is affecting their “activities of daily living”.
What causes dementia?
Dementia occurs when a particular part of the brain is damaged and interferes with the ability of the brain cells to communicate with each other. Certain types of damage in particular parts of the brain are associated with different types of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but there are many other types of dementia. Individuals may in fact be diagnosed with more than one type known as mixed dementia.
The most common types of dementia:
Alzheimer’s disease
Vascular dementia
Lewy body disease
Frontotemporal dementia
Mild cognitive impairment
Parkinson’s disease
Some of the key early symptoms of dementia include:
• Short term memory loss
• Repeatedly asking the same questions
• Changes in behaviour – unexpected / uncharacteristic anger and changes in mood
• Confusion
• Getting lost in a familiar environment
• Forgetting words / problems with speech and language
• Loss of sense of direction / disorientation
• Difficulty in performing everyday (seemingly normal) tasks
• Misplacing items
• Difficulty making decisions and planning
• Issues with balancing and spatial awareness
• Becoming passive and disinterested
• Problems with calculating
If you, or a loved one are experiencing one of more of the following symptoms, it is strongly advised for you to seek prompt medical advice. An early diagnosis of dementia will dramatically change the quality of life for the individual and their families.
Clinical trials offer fresh hope
Re:Cognition Health is spearheading new drugs in the final-phase of clinical trials as part of worldwide studies. Treatment is designed to slow down the progression of memory impairment– existing medications currently available can only mask the symptoms, while the condition is still progressing in the brain, at the same rate. In other words, existing drugs just help the dying brain cells to work better, but the new medications are designed to keep the brain cells alive and healthy.
For further information on the groundbreaking clinical trials please visit: https://recognitionhealth.com/our-services/clinical-trials/