Dementia Support Line
Find out about research designed to prevent dementia, cure it, limit its’ symptoms and to find new ways to care for people with dementia.
Because of the significant impact of dementia for people with a diagnosis, their families, and health and care services, there is a vast amount of research being undertaken around the world to find ways to prevent dementia, cure it, limit its symptoms and to find new ways to care for people with dementia. This research is being funded by governments, universities, charities, drug companies and other businesses.
- Between 2010 and 2020 the UK government increased their investment in dementia research from £28.2 million to £107.9 million each year.
- Charities invested £40 million in new research in 2019.
- Alzheimer’s Research UK alone funded 500 researchers from more than 100 organisations amounting to £23.6 million in 2022.
- The UK now ranks 2nd in the world for its contribution to health research, after the USA and ahead of Germany.
Research subjects are broad, reflecting the importance and impact of these conditions and include screening for dementia, the use of blood biomarkers, the effectiveness of therapeutic activities, scanning techniques, assistance for care givers, gene therapy, studies related to people’s lived experience of dementia, and much more. There is also a continuing research effort to find new drugs to prevent, cure and relieve the symptoms of dementia, including psychological symptoms, with 187 trials of 141 different drugs underway in January 2023.
Further to this, researchers are also continuing to develop a better understanding of brain health and about risk reduction, including research focussed on hearing, sight, sleep, pollution, dehydration, exercise, social interaction, the effects of other health conditions including mental health conditions, diet, alcohol, smoking, traumatic brain injury, and education, amongst other areas of emerging interest.
Dementia in the news
From time-to-time news headlines related to dementia research appear across the media, reflecting the interest and significance of dementia for us all. Some of the information in these news items may appear very hopeful but can also sometimes be misleading. Where appropriate Dementia Jersey will comment on these news items as they arise.