The matter in summary: Over 100,000 people in Norway live with a form of dementia, and the number is expected to double by 2050. New research findings include, among other things, blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, understanding of lifestyle factors that affect dementia risk and a study on hearing and dementia. A new immunological drug that removes amyloid plaques in the brain has shown good results in clinical tests for the early phase of Alzheimer’s disease. A single blood test can soon be used to make more precise diagnoses, even before dementia has developed. Experts are divided on whether there will be a cure for dementia within ten years, but some are optimistic that there will be treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Words like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease rarely evoke good feelings. Nevertheless, this is a reality for many Norwegians. Today, over 100,000 people live with one or another form of the disease in Norway. Most are elderly people – in addition, a great many relatives are involved. It is expected that the number of people with dementia will double by the year 2050. But there is still hope. Because research is being conducted like never before. And if we are to believe the experts, things are moving forward. We have heard from some of the leading people in the field, and in this case you can read in five points what they think will be the next big breakthroughs or bright spots for the future. This is dementia Dementia is a collective term for several brain diseases that lead to cognitive impairment, loss of physical and mental function. The most common types are: Alzheimer’s disease Vascular dementia Frontal lobe dementia Dementia with Levy bodies What they have in common is that there is no medicine that can cure them, that they worsen and are fatal. The biggest risk factor for getting dementia is old age, but there are also young people with this disease. Today there are approximately 100,000 people with dementia in Norway, but researchers believe the number could double by 2050. The causes of dementia are unknown, but there is a lot of research into dementia all over the world. Sources: Helsenorge.no / Aldringoghelse.no / demenskartet.no Hearing and dementia Dementia is a collective term for all dementia diseases. There are over a hundred different diseases that can contribute to the development of dementia, and what these have in common is that there is no curative treatment. Nor is it known what causes them to occur. But there are things to be happy about. When asked what a number of experts thought the leading discoveries from 2023 were, they answered, among other things: – Blood tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, new knowledge about lifestyle factors throughout life that increase or decrease the risk of dementia, and our own study on hearing and dementia. That’s what Geir Selbæk says. He is a professor and psychiatrist, and head of research at the National Center for Aging and Health. Selbæk himself helped publish a research in the journal The Lancet last year. Here it was found that problems with hearing could be an important factor for future dementia. A hope for 2024 Alzheimer’s disease is the most common of the dementia diseases. And this is also where research has come the furthest. Someone who is constantly noted for their research in the field is the Moser environment at the Kavli Institute in Trondheim. What do the Nobel Prize winners really think could be the next big breakthrough in this area? May-Britt and Edvard Moser. Photo: Jøte Toftaker / news – It’s a bit scary trying to predict breakthroughs in research, since nobody knows what we’ll see when we round the next corner. With that in mind, we can mention that in recent years a lot of knowledge has come to light about how various inflammatory processes, so-called inflammation, can occur in different parts of the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. Finding out more about such processes, which are very complex and seem to lead to different types of damage depending on the type of brain cell in which they occur, is promising in terms of future possibilities for treating the disease, they believe. – In particular, it is the possibility of detecting the disease early, before significant damage has occurred, which can give us the ability to stop or slow down the course of the disease before larger parts of the brain are affected. The hope for 2024 will be to find answers to how specific brain cells are affected in the very first stage of the disease. – Then we believe that one will be much closer to the possibility of researching how to stop these injuries, before they lead to significant damage to the brain, they write in an e-mail to news. A new drug Anne Rita Øksengård is head of research at the National Association for Public Health. She focuses on the fact that basic research is absolutely essential because we still do not know which mechanisms go wrong in the brain and lead to dementia. – It is essential to find which mechanisms lead to dementia and how to attack them so that the brain is not damaged. This type of research must take place in collaboration between basic research environments and clinical environments, so that new discoveries can quickly benefit patients. Anne Rita Øksengård is head of research at the National Association for Public Health. Photo: John Trygve Tollefsen In addition, she highlights a completely new drug that has had good results in clinical tests. And more similar medicines are to be on the way. – It is an immunological drug that removes amyloid plaques in the brains of some people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. According to the head of research, the study showed that the drug reduced markers for amyloid in early Alzheimer’s disease. This resulted in the reduction in cognitive function being smaller compared to placebo. But this type of medicine is not without side effects, and their use requires close monitoring by the healthcare system. A valuable blood test Something that all the experts we have spoken to point out is that it will soon be possible to make more precise diagnoses. And this with the help of a single blood test. – It is likely that within a year or two we will be able to make a precise Alzheimer’s diagnosis based on a single blood test. The diagnosis will also be able to be made before dementia has developed, says Geir Selbæk. Geir Selbæk is head of research at the National Center for Aging and Health. He believes in medicines that can affect the disease process. Photo: Martin Lundsvoll / Aging and health Here he is supported by Kristoffer Haugarvoll. He works at Neuro-SysMed, which is a research center for clinical treatment in neurology. In addition to blood-based tests, Haugarvoll is most confident that future research will be able to provide better treatment against new disease mechanisms. He also mentions that research into better diagnostics can lead to a more precise division into patient groups. But what do the experts think about the possibility of finding what everyone is hoping for – namely a cure for dementia? A solution? When asked if they think there will be a cure for dementia within ten years, the professionals are somewhat divided. But some are actually quite optimistic. – Dementia is particularly complex and difficult to cure. In any case, I believe that we will have effective treatment, says Kristoffer Haugarvoll. Ole A. Andreassen is a professor and researcher. He works at the University of Oslo and at Oslo University Hospital. His answer is yes. – Yes, which can slow down the development of many. But hardly something that works for everyone, says Andreassen. Geir Selbæk, on the other hand, does not think we will have a cure within ten years. – No Unfortunately. I don’t think there will be one cure for dementia. But I think there will be many cures that can help some of those who have contracted the disease. This can happen by delaying when it starts and slowing the development of symptoms once it has started. What does Anne Rita Øksengård say? – I believe that there will be research during the next decade that will find treatment that can slow down some forms of dementia. In the first instance, some forms of Alzheimer’s disease.
ttn-69
Norwegian experts believe this will be a bright spot and breakthrough in dementia research in 2024 – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
