Roadmap to improve dementia research by 2025

A new Alzheimer’s Society roadmap has outlined the steps that must be taken on dementia prevention, diagnosis, intervention and care by 2025.

University of Exeter professors Linda Clare and Clive Ballard both contributed to the document. It aims to ensure the key research areas of dementia prevention, diagnosis and care are on an equal footing with attempts to find new treatments and a cure.

Professor Linda Clare, who leads the Research in Ageing and Cognitive Health (REACH) group at the University of Exeter, said: “We urgently need to support the 50 million people worldwide who are already living with dementia, and the people caring for them. At Exeter we are leading large-scale, national research to establish what really works to support people to live as well as possible with dementia. This roadmap provides a policy guide towards better care and support for people living with dementia and their families in the UK and across the world.”

Clive Ballard, Professor of Age-Related Diseases at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “I’m incredibly excited about the advances we are making in dementia research, both in treatments and in prevention, diagnosis, intervention, and care, and research is expanding our knowledge all the time. This new Alzheimer’s Society roadmap provides steps to put this knowledge into practice. It will help navigate the way to a better future for all of us.”

James Pickett, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Society, said “Research has a vital role to play in care and cure alike - and with a million people in the UK expected to be living with dementia by 2021, we have to provide the best possible care for all those affected. Focused research will help health and social care professionals to improve knowledge and practice, as well as the quality of the wider system.”

Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Research Roadmap for prevention, diagnosis, intervention and care by 2025 includes five key goals:

• Prevent future cases of dementia through increasing knowledge of risk and protective
• Maximise the benefits to people living with dementia and their families of seeking and receiving a diagnosis of dementia
• Improve the quality of life for people affected by dementia by promoting functional capabilities and independence, while preventing and treating negative consequences of dementia
• Enable the dementia workforce to improve practice by increasing knowledge and informing changes in practice and culture
• Optimise the quality and inclusivity of health and social care services that support people affected by dementia.