Brain health is a novel approach to primary and and secondary prevention of neurodegeneration. The pillars of the brain health approach are;
1. Comprehensive risk assessment
2. Timely disease diagnosis
3. Personalised risk reduction
4. Easy access to research participation.
The Brain Health network in the UK consists of vanguard sites in Belfast, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Cambridge, Oxford, Newport, London and Bristol. New clinics are beginning all the time.
The Lancet Commission (2020) estimated that 40% of population-attributable risk (PAR) of dementia is due to environmental risk factors. The FINGERS and worldwide FINGERS studies are demonstrating the potential benefit of mid-life physical health in the prevention of neurodegenerative disease. Together, these findings point to an urgent need to reframe the diseases underlying dementia as modifiable illnesses, with an emphasis on prevention. We are closer than ever to a licensed disease-modifying medicine for Alzheimer Disease. These therapies will be unavailable to those in the UK without comprehensive molecular diagnoses. Blood biomarkers and genetic testing also have a role to play in risk-stratification and prognostication.
Presenters from England, Wales and Scotland will provide an overview of the landscape of brain health clinics in the UK.
By the end of the session, you will have achieved the following objectives:
Understand:
- What "Brain Health" is..
- What a Brain Health clinic does.
- The role of fluid biomarkers in practice.
- The role of environmental risk factors in the risk of neurodegeneration.
Practice:
- To emphasise the need for cardiovascular risk reduction in your clinical population.
- To consider brain health a 'lifelong' risk worthy of assessment at any stage in the patient's journey.
- For later life psychiatrists: to consider the role of brain health approaches in your daily practice.
Chair: Ross Dunne, Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Vanessa Raymont, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Chineze Ivenso, Aneurin Bevan UHB, Newport, United Kingdom
