New Resources To Overcome Barriers To Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Alzheimer’s Disease International and the pharmaceutical company Lilly have announced a partnership to address barriers to accurate and timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. The organisations will launch educational resources that help improve communication between people with dementia and their carers, and doctors.

Resources include a patient and caregiver journal, where people can record daily behaviour and activity to show the doctor, and a document outlining some of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity, said:

“It is good to see moves to support people with memory complaints in communicating their concerns with their doctor. Good communication between doctors and patients is important for helping a doctor to make an accurate diagnosis and for providing reassurance to an individual that their concerns are being taken seriously.

“Making an accurate diagnosis of the diseases that cause dementia can be incredibly difficult. With the G8 Dementia Summit legacy event taking place next week to discuss ways to increase investment in research, we must remember the importance of research to improve the detection of diseases like Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s Research UK is investing in research to develop new tools to more accurately detect the diseases that cause dementia.”