Register and read the original full text on dementia prevention, intervention and care published by The Lancet. It recommends that acting now on dementia prevention, intervention, and care will vastly improve living and dying for individuals with dementia and their families, and in doing so, will transform the future for society.
Whilst this is a research article, it is highly readable with good summaries and graphics. Try reading the original rather than a sanitized version of the findings in the mainstream media.
The commission of experts have detailed evidence-based approaches to dementia and its symptoms. They recommend that services should be available, scalable, and give value. However, they caution that professionals and services need to use what works, not use what is ineffective, and be aware of the difference.
Optimistically, the conclusion is that there is good potential for prevention and, once someone develops dementia, for care to be high-quality, accessible, and give value to an underserved, growing population. It’s argued that effective dementia prevention, intervention, and care could transform the future for society and vastly improve living and dying for individuals with dementia and their families. They maintain that by acting now on what we already know can make this difference happen.
The article provides ten core thematic messages on dementia:
- The number of people with dementia is increasing globally
- Be ambitious about prevention
- Treat cognitive symptoms
- Individualise dementia care
- Care for family carers
- Plan for the future
- Protect people with dementia
- Manage neuropsychiatric symptoms
- Consider end of life