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EU funds project for dementia prevention Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability beyond what might be expected from normal ageing. While dementia is incurable, not many people know that you can greatly decrease your risk of dementia in old age or delay its onset by following a healthy lifestyle in middle age. Cardiovascular health and fitness, weight, sleep and mood are all modifiable risk factors for dementia. InMINDD (Innovative, Midlife Intervention for Dementia Deterrence) is an EU-funded project that will develop online tools that can be used by doctors to determine the dementia risk of individual patients in midlife and develop personalised strategies to reduce their risk. A key part of the project will be supportive, socially driven online environments to help patients follow their risk reduction programs, as well as promotion of the message that action can be taken to prevent or delay dementia and the time to act is now. As Dr. Kate Irving, Coordinator of the In-MINDD project, explains, ”Since dementia generally happens in later life it is likely that the biggest impact on dementia prevalence will be to delay its onset. There is a good amount of scientific knowledge about how to delay dementia but this knowledge is not shared by the general public. We need to know much more specific information about risk factors, how they interact and how to decrease dementia risk - but crucially we also need to communicate this knowledge to the general public. In-MINDD seeks to address the knowledge gap and the need to communicate with the public about dementia risk reduction.” Dr Kate Irving In addition to the personal impact of dementia, there are significant healthcare costs associated with the disease. Europe’s population is ageing and, as old age is the biggest risk factor for dementia, we face a dementia epidemic in the coming decades. Globally, costs for people with dementia amount to more than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) - if dementia care were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy.1 In Europe, the total cost of dementia was estimated in 2005 at €130 billion. Preventing and/or delaying the onset of dementia would result in significant health care savings. Team: In MINDD is led by Dublin City University and brings together partners from across Europe, with a unique mix of expertise essential for successfully delivering the project, including: dementia experts from Ireland (Dublin City University), the Netherlands (Universiteit Maastricht) and France (Université de Nice - Sophia Antipolis), experts in online, interactive system development from Ireland (Dublin City University), primary care innovation experts from Scotland (University of Glasgow), and experts in project administration and communications from Ireland (Pintail Limited). In MINDD is funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme, under Grant Agreement No. 304979. The project runs for three years from Nov 2012. More information can be found on the project website: http://www.inmindd.eu/ See other media coverage at: http://www.inmindd.eu/news/ 1 Wimo and Prince, 2011 World Alzheimer Report 2010 The Global Economic Impact of Dementia. Alzheimer’s Disease International. September 2010.