Dementia affects millions of people globally, causing profound memory loss and cognitive impairment and compromising the ability to function independently in day-to-day life. In this episode of Healthy Dialogue, host Derek C. Angus, MD, MPH, sat down with Gil Rabinovici, MD, a neurologist and director of the UCSF Alzheimer&#x27;s Disease Research Center, to discuss the latest developments in dementia and Alzheimer disease research.<br><br>Related Content:<br>A New Era in Dementia—Advances in Diagnostic Blood Tests, Novel Drugs, and the Power of Lifestyle Changes

A New Era in Dementia: Advances in Diagnostic Blood Tests, Novel Drugs, and the Power of Lifestyle Changes

Healthy Dialogue

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Healthy Dialogue

## Participants

- **Derek Angus** (JAMA Network)
- **Gil Rubinovich** (University of California, San Francisco)

## Transcript

The hope is that these new drugs represent not the solution, but the beginning of a new era where we can actually modify the biology of Alzheimer's and hopefully other conditions that lead to dementia. And in the future, that we might not only slow decline in people who have symptoms, but we might actually prevent symptoms from ever happening if we can intervene early enough in a safe way and in an economically feasible way.

Hi, I'm Derek Angus, a physician and senior editor at JAMA. You're listening to Healthy Dialogue, a new podcast from the JAMA Network, where we'll be discussing some of the most pressing issues in health and healthcare with leading experts from around the world.

I have to say for me, and I think for a lot of people, the idea of developing or having a loved one develop dementia is really incredibly scary. That someone could still be alive and yet becomes lost to you is just so heartbreaking and scary. And yet, for all of our fears, I also suspect that many of us don't actually know that much about dementia.

The clinical definition of dementia is a decline in memory or other cognitive abilities that interferes with the ability to function independently in day-to-day life. Initially, that means that people end up requiring assistance with complicated tasks like finances, managing calendars, or appointments.

But over time, as the dementia progresses, then people start requiring assistance with more basic activities like hygiene, toilet, eating, dressing, etc. There's about 7 million Americans and 60 million people worldwide who have dementia, and a similar number with the earlier stage of mild cognitive impairment, even though they might still be independent in daily life.

So today, I thought it would be useful to chat with someone who can really weigh in on a whole bunch of questions that we might have about dementia. I'm delighted to spend the next little while chatting with Gil Rubinovich. Gil is the Edward and Pearl Fine Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Gil is also an Associate Editor at JAMA.

We're going to discuss risk factors and causes of dementia, the relationship of Alzheimer's disease to dementia, how sleep and other lifestyle factors come into play. And we'll talk about early detection and treatment, including some new drugs. Gil, welcome. Thank you so much. Really a pleasure to be here.

So Gil, the first thing I want to get my head around is how likely is it that someone will actually get dementia? You know, we all see the examples in the television. We all hear of cases. But what is the actual frequency, the incidence of dementia? What is someone's risk? And is it changing? Do we think it's becoming more common? Yeah, these are...

A New Era in Dementia: Advances in Diagnostic Blood Tests, Novel Drugs, and the Power of Lifestyle Changes

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A New Era in Dementia: Advances in Diagnostic Blood Tests, Novel Drugs, and the Power of Lifestyle Changes

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.