What we do
About our project
Investigating the prevalence of young onset dementia
The Prevalence REcognition & Care pathways in young-Onset DEmentia (PRECODE) study investigates how to improve the recognition and treatment of patients with young onset dementia. Within the Alzheimer center Erasmus MC, we work on work-package 4 (WP4), which focusses on studying the prevalence of patients with young-onset dementia in two catchment areas in the Netherlands.
Diagnosis and treatment
People with young onset dementia differ from older people with dementia in symptoms, social aspects like an active engagement in working and family life, and in terms of their relatively good physical health and differences in interests. These dissimilarities mean that these patients have different healthcare requirements than late onset dementia patients. In order to improve specialized healthcare for people with young onset dementia it is important to know its prevalence.
Motivation
To ensure a shorter time to diagnosis and sufficient care for people with young onset dementia, prevalence research is needed to provide policy makers and health care services with accurate data.
Study design
In this study we investigate the year-prevalence of young onset dementia in two predefined catchment areas in the Netherlands. Healthcare professionals that are active in these areas are asked to (anonymously) register each young onset dementia patient they encounter in an online registration database and to fill in a short survey. The primary outcome of this study will be knowledge on the prevalence of young-onset dementia patients in the Netherlands. Secondary, we will study causes of dementia and the time until diagnosis and living situation.
Funds & Grants
Alzheimer Nederland
Stichting Gieskes Strijbis Fonds
Collaborations
- Alzheimercentrum Limburg
- Alzheimercentrum Radboud UMC
- Alzheimercentrum Amsterdam UMC
- Nivel
- Alzheimer Nederland
- Kenniscentrum Dementie op Jonge Leeftijd
