Question: do you believe that your research can save lives?How do you think the future will look like?

Nadine Mirza answered on 14 Nov 2018: last edited 14 Nov 2018 11:43 pm

Thanks for your question ar!
I think my research has the potential to save lives in a very subtle way. While I’m not working on an outright cure for dementia I am trying to make it easier for people to:
a) Understand why dementia happens and how it can be prevented
b) Get an early diagnosis of dementia as soon as possible
c) Help them access the health and care they need once they know they have it
This can help people in a lot of ways. If you find out you have dementia early and are able to get the care for it you could be given medication that can really slow down the dementia symptoms- it can dramatically improve your quality of life and let you keep independently functioning for a lot longer. You can also be given therapy like cognitive stimulation therapy and reminiscence therapy, which again can reduce the impact of the symptoms. Also, something that needs a lot of attention, is that finding out someone has dementia means we can offer help, support and care not just to them but to their carer as well, who could be their partner or child, who is at a high risk for developing anxiety and depression.
And obviously, widespread knowledge of preventing it might end up reducing how many people end up getting it if they apply that knowledge to themselves.
I think, if this research was properly applied, we could hopefully expect in a few years that within my area there would be more people getting diagnosed a whole lot earlier. For something like prevention, you might have to wait a decade or two to see the impact.