:: Muistiluotsi - in english ::

Expert And Support Centres Network 2006 – 2010
The network of local Expert And Support Centres aims to strengthen volunteer work and coperation in the dementia work and to improve and expand the services for people with dementia.

For further information please contact
Mervi Leivo
Coordinator
Tel. +358 9 6226 2027
e-mail mervi.leivo(at)muistiliitto.fi

Latest news from abroad:

The 20th Alzheimer Europe Conference will be held from 30 September to 2 October 2010.

In theme of Rights and Ethics Henna Nikumaa's study
Henna Nikumaa made a large study as a part of her social service master´s degree. In her study, 157 professionals who work with people with dementia (e.g. memory nurses, dementia coordinators, social workers) were interviewed using a questionnaire. Eight people with dementia and some of their family members were interviewed individually. The primary aim of the study was to clarify how and if equality is achieved in the availability of public social security when people with dementia and people with other challenges are compared.
Results: The results of this study showed that there are certain social security services that are not equally available for every diagnostic group. Especially rehabilitation and transportation services are easier to get for people with other diagnosis than for people with diseases that cause dementia. Both professionals and people with dementia experienced the availability in the same way. When asked for the reasons for this, the answers divided. Firstly, the professionals estimated that the social security legislation is interpreted mostly through the applicant’s physical ability. Especially when social security decisions are based on the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act, people are evaluated almost entirely based on their physical ability. Their cognitive ability is not taken into consideration sufficiently even though cognitive impairment causes need for social security as well as physical impairment. This leads to a situation where people with visible condition get the social security services they need easier and often with less paper work than people with dementia. Secondly, people with dementia felt that diseases causing dementia and other diseases are not equally valued – other diagnoses are grounds for services, but diseases causing dementia are not. Dementia is still too often considered a part of normal aging. One interviewed person with dementia said: “It is almost like if you had any other disease than my Alzheimer’s, you’ll get the social security you need.”

Numbers of people with dementia in Europe higher than previously reported
Embargoed for release until Monday, 13 July, 8.30 a.m. (Vienna)

Vienna, 13 July 2009 – According to research reported today at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in Europe may be higher than previously reported since both the number of new cases and the total number of people affected continue to rise among the very oldest segments of the population.

The goal of the EuroCoDe (European Collaboration on Dementia) project, financed by the European Commission and coordinated by Alzheimer Europe, was to determine the prevalence of dementia in Europe based on up-to-date research findings. Dr Emma Reynish, a consultant geriatrician from the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, United Kingdom and her EuroCoDe colleagues conducted an extensive literature search using Cochrane review methodologies and compiled a database of all European epidemiological studies in the field up to the present date. 194 articles were identified by the review and 26 studies met inclusion criteria to participate with raw data in the collaborative analysis.

According to Dr Emma Reynish, while dementia prevalence rates for all men and for women up to age 85 largely confirmed previous findings, age-specific prevalence rates were higher than previously documented in the female “oldest old” age groups, rising to over 50% in those over 95 years.
“Our key findings confirmed that age remains as the single most important risk factor for dementia,” Reynish said. “Nevertheless, due to the lack of data in the oldest old in previous prevalence studies, the prevalence of dementia of women over the age of 85 had been underreported.”

Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe welcomed the findings: “These results are important for two reasons. Firstly, they confirm what we already knew about the prevalence of dementia in Europe for people up to the age of 85. At the same time, the reported prevalence in the oldest old shows that we have previously underreported the total number of people with dementia in Europe. In the European Union alone, we now estimate the total number of people with dementia to be 7.3 million, rather than 6.5 million. This poses important challenges for all European health care systems, since the oldest old is one of the fastest growing sectors of our European societies.”

For further information, contact:
Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe,
145, route de Thionville, L-2611 Luxembourg,
Tel.: +352-29 79 70, Fax: +352-29 79 72,
jean.georges