RIS ID
138905
Abstract
Dementia is an umbrella term which describes a number of different diseases that cause progressive decline of brain functions such as language, memory and cognitive ability (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2004). In 2009, 245,000 Australians were living with dementia, and it is projected that this will increase to around 1.13 million by 2050 (Access Economics, 2009). There is currently no cure for dementia. The uptake of early intervention and prevention strategies is therefore paramount to curb the current dementia epidemic, yet there is a lack of awareness of dementia prevention strategies among Australians (Farrow, 2008). Current research suggests that treating hypertension is the most important means of reducing dementia risk (Valenzuela and Sachdev, 2006;Woodward, 2007) and yet awareness of this, in comparison to other dementia risk reduction strategies such as mental stimulation, is extremely low (Low and Anstey, 2007).
Publication Details
K. Andrews & L. Phillipson, Healthy Heart Healthy Mind Dementia Risk Reduction Awareness Campaign: Final Report and Evaluation (Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, 2011).