HOPE FOR DEMENTIA

More than 55 million people worldwide live with dementia and it's estimated this number will double every 20 years. But researchers believe there's light at the end of the tunnel

- SARAH MARINOS

IT BEGINS subtly. A loved one becomes more forgetful, finding it harder to remember things they once had no trouble recalling. They misplace everyday items, like car keys or phones, and become confused doing routine tasks such as supermarket shopping, managing money or preparing dinner.

Sometimes people become withdrawn and their moods veer from happy to unexpectedly angry and frustrated.

Gradually, these changes become more debilitating and entrenched.

For the person experiencing these symptoms, and for the family who loves them, the effects are devastating.

Dementia is not a specific disease but rather a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, reasoning, mood and behaviour. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for about 70 percent of cases.

Worldwide, around 10 million new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). That's one person diagnosed every three seconds.

The statistics paint a grim picture, but in recent years there have been signs the tables are being turned on the rise of dementia.

DIAGNOSIS IS BECOMING MORE EFFECTIVE

There's no cure for dementia, although researchers are optimistic they will eventually discover the holy grail that will stop dementia in its tracks.

An online tool to identify early dementia is being developed by Associate Professor Simone Reppermund from the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The tool assesses how well people perform everyday activities such as shopping for items on a list, finding their doctor's contact details online, calling their GP to make an appointment, managing their finances and renewing a prescription.