Join Dementia Research News

Help researchers to improve the guidance and support around driving after a dementia diagnosis by taking part in a survey to share your experience.

Researchers have found that use of anticholinergics was linked with between a 6% and 49% increased risk of dementia, depending on the dose and duration of use. With this type of study, it is always difficult to prove direct cause and effect. Nevertheless, this is an important finding that needs looking into further. But it’s important that people do not stop taking any prescribed medicine without speaking to their doctor. The risk from stopping the medicine may be far higher than any dementia risk.

A couple who have been married for 69 years are taking part in dementia research together after one of them was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Enid was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease – the most common type of dementia – in 2016, aged 88. Now she and her husband Barry are participating in the IDEAL-2 study together.

In 2 linked studies, researchers found that people who said they did puzzles regularly did better on tests of cognitive ability. However, the research does not definitely show that doing puzzles made brains “sharper”. Or that doing puzzles staves off dementia in later life. It could be that people who have better cognitive abilities are more likely to do number or word puzzles in the first place.

In this blog for Dementia Action Week, Professor Martin Rossor reflects on how far dementia research has come, and looks ahead to how healthcare professionals, researchers and the public can take the next step together.

This Dementia Action Week we’re asking healthcare professionals to talk to their patients about research opportunities.

Researchers have identified a new form of dementia. Known as LATE, it shares many similarities with Alzheimer’s disease, but tends to lead to a more gradual decline in memory. LATE (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy) appears to be linked to the accumulation of a protein called TDP-43 in the brain, whereas Alzheimer’s is linked to the […]

After signing up to the Join Dementia Research initiative a few months ago, I was selected to take part as a healthy volunteer (someone who is not living with dementia) for a study called SENDeR, looking at brain connections (synapses) and how their loss leads to dementia and other brain illnesses.

The half day I spent taking part in this research project was a fascinating, worthwhile and most of all straightforward process.

Join Dementia Research has helped more than 40,000 people connect with research studies over the past four years. As a result, researchers and their studies have massively benefitted, with more than 11,000 study enrollments in this time. However, if we are going to turn the corner and find ways to better prevent, diagnose, treat, care […]

We’re delighted that over 40,000 people have now registered as volunteers with Join Dementia Research. This is wonderful news – thank you so much to everyone who has signed up and helped us reach this milestone. It’s people like you who are making a difference. By registering your interest in research, you’re helping us bring more […]