Future of Dementia Research | Dementia and Cognitive Impairment | JAMA Neurology | The JAMA Network

Future of Dementia Research | Dementia and Cognitive Impairment | JAMA Neurology | The JAMA Network

Dementia Research—A Roadmap for the Next Decade
Bryan J. Traynor, MD, PhD1,2; Rosa Rademakers, PhD3
Author Affiliations
JAMA Neurol. Published online December 12, 2016. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.5004

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The last decade has seen extraordinary advances in our understanding of dementia. Unfortunately, much of this hard won science points to dementia being a complex problem. For example, genetic studies tell us that dementia is a heterogeneous group of diseases rather than a single clinical entity as we had previously thought. Epidemiological studies report a surprising decline in the occurrence of dementia, most likely due to improved lifestyle and cardiac health among the general population.1 This decline illustrates the multifactorial nature of dementia and, importantly, shows that at least a portion of it is amenable to intervention and preventive measures.