Project
The number of Dutch people suffering from dementia is on the rise. How can we tame this increasingly common disease? Researcher Arfan Ikram contributes to answering this question, with help from the Erasmus Trustfonds.
By 2050, there may be over 600 thousand people suffering from dementia. The awful disease forms a growing societal challenge. Memory loss, fear, and disorientation increasingly isolate patients, while much remains unknown about the complex disease. More knowledge is necessary to make the right medical and social choices.
Pioneering dementia investigation
Prof. Arfan Ikram has researched dementia since 2001 and is currently Chair of the department Epidemiology. “Dementia has many subtypes like Alzheimer, Parkinson’s disease, and vascular dementia. Similarly, there’s more than one cause. We’re investigating the factors involved, both genetic and those related to lifestyle. For example, lonely people are often less active physically and mentally, which is detrimental to brain health.”
Ikram: “Being able to better predict the disease is literally a matter of life and death. We’ve set up a pioneering dementia investigation in the ERGO-study, which is a long-term Rotterdam study on the relationship between old age and health.”
Prof. Arfan Ikram has researched dementia since 2001 and is currently Chair of the department Epidemiology
Predicting dementia
Ikram: “When someone has a stroke, you can recognize the exact moment. Dementia is stealthy. When the diagnosis is made, there may already be 20 years of brain damage. Unfortunately, the symptoms are often similar to those of depression, for example. Likewise, people may have no brain damage yet still suffer from dementia. Based on the ERGO research we were able to make a prediction model in 2019, which is now 70 to 85% accurate. But the next question is: what do we offer patients? If we’re telling someone they will suffer from dementia in ten years, we need to provide them with some type of perspective.”
