Update on Dementia
A two-day scientific gathering titled “Update on Dementia” will be opened at the Grand Hall of SASA, on Friday, 5 April, at 9:15 a.m. As Academician Vladimir S. Kostić, SASA President and a neurologist, has explained, leading domestic and international experts will give first-hand accounts of possibilities of recognition, diagnosis and mechanisms leading to the disorder and finally treatment of this disease.
The gathering will focus, inter alia, on the current approach related to the prevention of dementia development and the control of possible risk variables, with a special emphasis on lifestyle changes, along with the new therapeutic possibilities expected in the near future.
Academician Vladimir S. Kostić emphasizes that the gathering will not only provide an overview of the current situation, but its ultimate goal is to remind the public that hopelessness is no longer the final outcome when it comes to dementia disorders.
He underscores that there are significant advances in the research of risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (which, if controlled, could reduce the number of cases by million and a half annually), as well as in pathology and causes of dementias, nowadays perceived as protein-related diseases, which has consequently increased identification of the ways proteins function.
– I dare not estimate the pace of these changes, but there is evidence that in ten years we shall have a completely different picture – Academician V. Kostić concludes.
Dementia represents a serious medical, as well as socio-economic problem our society face. Societies such as ours, growing old at fast pace, are particularly affected. For example, some municipalities in Belgrade have over a fifth of population older than 65 years of age.